Pokemon-The Crystal Explorations-(Book 1)The Orbs of Life
by Static Eevee 198
Summary: Leaf the bulbasaur is abandoned by her selfish trainer. Shortly after meeting a charmander named Blaze and a Squirtle named Zephyr, she becomes an explorer and joins their exploration team, Team Crystal. Dangers and odd events begin to occur, and when a major threat rises, Leaf must use her newfound, strange ability to help. But under the secrets is a truth, a dangerous truth...
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N) This is my first ever fanfiction. I've been writing this for a long time, a few months, actually, so I'm thrilled to finally be publishing it! This story has already been pre-written, so it'll take a little shorter than usual to update it. Also, this is a series that will be my main focus. The protagonist is Leaf, a female bulbasaur.**

 **This is also a mystery dungeon fanfiction, but not the normal type of mystery dungeon fanfic you'd imagine.**

 **The story starts out kind of slow, and you might sometimes be like "** _ **When is the main plotline gonna happen?"**_ **But I plan for there to be more than 20 chapters, and again, I won't suffer writer's block much because everything is planned and written.**

 **Without further ado, here is my first ever Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfic, Pokemon-The Crystal explorations-(Book 1) The Orbs of Life!**

* * *

Leaf felt a surge of energy. She was being sent out of her Poke-Ball by her trainer. There was another surge of energy, stronger and brighter this time, as Leaf felt herself transported out of the Poke-Ball. After a brief swirl of light, Leaf was standing in front of the human she knew and obeyed as her Pokemon trainer.

Leaf looked around. She was standing on tan, dry dirt, a little bit away from a field of dark green tall grass. There was a Pokemon Center in her other direction.

It was a hot, bright afternoon, and the sun felt warm and pleasant against her bulb.

"Leaf," said her trainer, somewhat impatiently. Leaf turned around to look at him. She didn't see him as often as she would have thought ;she only saw harsh, difficult battles when she was outside of her Poke-Ball.

"You know how you're my Grass-Type starter Pokemon?" he asked.

She did. A starter Pokemon like her was an irreplaceable partner, a-

"Well, I got a new one."

. . . A new starter Pokemon, or . . . a new partner? Was her trainer joking? He sounded quite serious, but still, it just _couldn't_ be true . . .

"Meet your replacement, Reed." Her trainer said, holding out an unfamiliar Poke-Ball and pressing the button on it.

 _Replacement?_ Was her trainer really going to replace her?

A servine flashed out of the Poke-Ball. The servine, who Leaf assumed was Reed, looked down at her with a smug look on his face.

 _He's not joking,_ Leaf realized _He's really going to replace me . . ._

"Reed is a strong, fast, _evolved_ Pokemon," Her trainer said. "While _you_ aren't any of those three. All that time I've kept you, all those battles you've been in, I was just waiting for you to evolve, or at least get stronger. And now I finally have a strong, evolved Grass-Type who won't just take up space on my Poke-Belt or lose to every battle he's in. I have Reed now. And do you know what _that_ means, Leaf?"

Leaf shook her head slowly, dreading the answer.

"It's simple. I don't need you anymore. So I'm going to release you."

Fear immediately consumed Leaf. She leaped onto her trainer's leg and wrapped her forearms around it, prepared to hang on. She swore to herself that she would _not_ be released. She would do everything she could, even evolve into an Ivysaur.

"ACK!" Her trainer yelled angrily, shaking his leg in attempt to shake her off. "Get off my leg, you useless weak waste of space!"

Leaf fell to the ground at his words.

"You _really_ don't want to get released?" He asked her.

Leaf nodded her head vigorously, relief spreading through her

"Well then, you have until sundown to prove to me that you aren't worthless and convince me to let you back on the team. And don't expect me to change my mind if you shed a few tears. You'd better be here by dusk, Leaf."

And with those last words, he spun around on his heel and walked away, followed by a smugly smirking Reed.

Leaf immediately knew evolving was her best shot. But how could she evolve in one day? The only way she could think of was to train and toughen up, but that could take days, and she only had a few hours.

Leaf decided she would try anyways. There was a field of green, cool tall grass nearby, and it was a hot day. At least _some_ wild Pokemon had to be resting or scuttling around in the shady grass.

As if on cue, Leaf spotted the tip of a purple tail sticking out of the grass. The rattata stayed near the middle of the field, unaware Leaf was so close by. It wouldn't hurt to at least try; maybe she could manage to evolve.

 _I_ have _to do it._ Leaf reminded herself. _And I will._

She quickly ran at the grass and pounced on the wild rattata, knowing it was only the first of many she would have to defeat.

* * *

Leaf battled without break until her strength was almost fully sapped. Still, at only a few minutes to sundown, she was still a bulbasaur. Most of her hope extinguished at the sight of the sinking sun. The battles had only weakened her. Reluctantly, Leaf trudged back to the Pokemon Center.

Leaf's trainer was waiting for her, looking bored and staring critically at his watch. He frowned at Leaf with a disapproving look in his eyes that seemes familiar. It was the look he got whenever she lost a battle, or even got hit by an attack.

"Well, well. You're so slow that I got here late and you got here two minutes after me." Her trainer said, sounding bored. "So that means that you're as pathetically slow as ever. Hmm . . . and you haven't evolved, of course. But then again, you're to weak to even learn a new move, so what chance would you ever have at evolving, anyways? Oh, and an increase in strength? Haha, you look weaker than a magikarp! We both knew it was impossible. I've been with you since day one of my journey and you almost seem to grow weaker every day, much less stronger."

An anger Leaf had never felt against her trainer began sploshing around inside of her. She glared and arched herself into a fighting stance, pulling out her vines and smacking them at the ground, creating a thudding sound.

"Ooh, this is something new that doesn't make me sick," her trainer said. "I like a strong, competitive temperament like that. Think your overpowered, do you? Let's see in a battle!" her trainer pulled out Reed's Poke-Ball from his Poke-Belt. "And who better than your replacement to take you on?"

Reed appeared at his side in a flash of light. The annoying, grinding smug look on his face was still etched upon his mouth, making Leaf a little more enthusiastic about battling him. Still, she knew the odds of winning were probably very close to zero. Not only did Reed _look_ way stronger, Leaf was weakened from her training before. Cuts, peckmarks, scratches, bites, and bruises already tattoed her turquoise skin. Still, she had to try . . . and she had to win.

"Go, Reed!" Her trainer said, pointing at Leaf. "Use Vine Whip!"

Reed quickly sent two vines out of his banana yellow collar and began to lash them at Leaf. Leaf scrambled left and right, trying to dodge the vines. Then Reed sent both vines at her. The vines grabbed Leaf by the waist and raised her in midair. Leaf struggled and bit at the vines, but she was just squeezed tighter.

Leaf bit at one of the vines again, and she must've hit a good spot. Reed dropped her and withdrew his vines, but he didn't look to hurt or fazed by her bite. Leaf leaped to her feet and charged at Reed, but the speedy servine easily dodged her attack.

"CUT!" her trainer yelled. One of Reed's leafy hands became long and blade-sharp. He jumped in the air, landed in front of Leaf, and slashed at her bulb. It wasn't a very deep cut or seriously bleeding, but Leaf wailed and collapsed to the floor, her cut stinging painfully.

"Vine Whip, again!" Reed's hand returned to normal as his vines shot out once more. They became a hazy blur of green as they whipped and slapped at Leaf. Black spots began to tear through Leaf's vision, getting bigger and darker with every strike.

 _It's over . . ._ Leaf thought dully. She could already feel herself loosing consciousness. There was no point in continuing; Reed had clearly proven himself stronger . . .

"Finish this, Reed!" Leaf heard her trainer shout. "TAKE DOWN!"

A blur of color was speeding at Leaf . . .she was doomed . . . she was going to be released . . . all that training and work for nothing, because now she would be a wild and lonely Pokemon forever . . .

And then Reed tackled her, and she finally blanked out.

* * *

 **(A/N) This chapter is the most different out of any chapters in this story. I actually kind of think of it as more of a prologue chapter, but everyone would be confused (even me!) if there wasn't this chapter, or even a flashback of a scene like this in the story.**

 **This was a fun chapter to write. The next main characters will be introduced in the next chapter, which was one of my favorites to write in general. If you have any questions, write them in a review for this chapter and I can probably answer them (Please no inappropriate questions)!**

 **I hope you liked my first chapter!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N) NEXT CHAPTERRRRRRR!**

 **This took WAY longer to publish than it should have. I was going to Copy and Paste it because I had fully typed it, but then I accidentally pressed _delete_ instead of _copy_ , so I had to RE-Type it, and I also forgot to save my first document.**

 **I went very off-script for this one. I usually copy it off a written version, but I hardly looked at my paper! This chapter introduces Blaze and Zephyr, and adds more backstory to Leaf in the beginning.**

 **As I said in my bottom Author's Note of the first chapter, I will answer the questions I got.**

 _ **DRANICUS 101:**_ **Thank you for the awesome review! I really appreciated it! :)**

 _ **SILVERSCEPTER:**_ **I was expecting your first question. I elaborate on that in this chapter, but for a short answer:** **Leaf was naive. She never realized how mean he was until RIGHT BEFORE he released her, and by then she had tried too hard to back down.**

 **I explain this better in the first part of the chapter.**

 **As for the character choice, that is also explained in** **the Chapter, as well as the names, but both of those in the lower part of the chapter.**

 **I don't want to change the names because I've actually finished writing this story (On Paper) and started the sequel on paper, so I've gotten really attached to the characters.** **I'm going to answer your name/character questions in the bottom Author's note, because If I answer it here The Note will be too long and contain spoilers for the chapter.**

 **Ok this is getting kind of long, so enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Leaf felt dizzy, her body numb with pain, head pounding and limbs sore.

She didn't know where she was, but she guessed she was in the smallest corner of consciousness she had, because her brain was almost fully asleep.

There were so many emotions splashing around inside of her.

So many questions.

So many realizations.

Leaf, even in her smallest train of consciousness, felt sick with confusion.

Ever since she was born, she had lived in a Lab. Named, raised, and learned in it. And when she was finally ready to be chosen by a trainer as a partner, she was rejected not once, but twice.

And then her trainer came along, and she was finally a partner. She finally had a trainer. She finally had a meaning. She was so naive, wishing to be taken by someone and hoping to someday be the greatest she could be, that she never realized that her trainer was never grateful of her. She always thought he liked her, never noticing how he truly felt about her.

Maybe if she had noticed, she wouldn't have been as shocked and hurt about being released.

And she finally realized how cruel and selfish her former master really had been as she was released.

Leaf had always thought being a trainer's partner would be the best thing ever, so she simply assumed she was loved. That was a mistake. She should have seen what her trainer really was and then decided how she felt, not immediately decide eternal loyalty to him. She had let herself weave a bond to him that both he didn't deserve and didn't share.

Leaf felt the corner of thought shrink. She could hardly process anything in her brain.

 _Must be loosing full consciousness . . ._ She thought dully. _But . . . maybe he'll keep me after all . . ._

That was what she wanted, right? To stay with her trainer until the very end?

 _That's what I really wanted?_ Leaf told herself, but it sounded like a question, not a statement.

Leaf was about to answer herself, but then the rest of her was swallowed into the quiet darkness, silencing every thought she had had.

* * *

Leaf felt dizzy. She felt as if the whole world was spinning at five thousand miles per hour. Her body felt sore and numb.

Slowly she opened her eyes. It was hard to tell what was what, since everything was a blur of color. There was steady green surrounding her. A fire was near, and it was what made Leaf feel warmer than she should have. There was some kind of bed or blanket or leaves or something under her, but she could't tell which one.

Two figures, one a blur of many different colors (Blue, brown, and yellow) and the other solid orange were sitting near the fire. For a brief second, Leaf thought they were humans. She felt kind of happy and kind of upset. She didn't want to be alone out in the wild, but she had no intentions of slaving for her cruel trainer.

Leaf blinked a few times and her vision sharpened. The blue-yellow-brown blur took the shape of what might be a squirtle, while the orange one solidified into the back of a charmander. Leaf was shocked that she felt more relief than disappointment; she must really not want to be with her trainer anymore.

Many moments passed as Leaf gained more and more consciousness. She realized that the green canopy above her was actually millions of leaves, signaling she was in some kind of forest. After that, she noticed that it was darker away from the fire, meaning that the fire also served for light as well as heat. The figures were talking to each other.

The charmander got up and turned to the blazing fireplace. He breathed some small, orange flames at the fire, but it didn't get any bigger.

 _I think that's as big as it's gonna get._

Leaf realized that she hadn't imagined that voice; the charmander had said that to the squirtle.

"Oh." said the squirtle, edging closer to the flames. "That sucks. It's cold out here."

The charmander turned from the flames and noticed Leaf.

"Zephyr, she woke up!" He said excitedly, coming over.

The squirtle lifted his head in Leaf's direction and looked at her. "Oh. Good." He followed the charmander over to Leaf. Leaf unconsciously shrunk away.

"Hey, why're you hiding from us?" the squirtle asked, looking confused.

How was she supposed to answer a question like that? "I-well-I-It's just that . . . Y-You know what? Nevermind." She stammered, sliding back up.

Leaf wasn't very scared of the squirtle; she was more worried about the charmander. She had been one out of three Pokemon to be chosen. The squirtle had been decent in the few moments she'd been with him, but the charmander had been aggressive and slightly dangerous. Leaf shuddered at the memory of her encounter with Firefang. He had a weird, rusty red-brown tint to his scales and an almost permanent scowl and glare that Leaf had never seen fully leave his face. He had actually tried to (and managed to) attack her just to steal her food that day. The sharp, shiny teeth and long, dagger-like claws would never be fully erased from her memory.

But the charmander in front of her was the opposite of Firefang. He had a kind look in his emerald-green eyes and was a pleasant, warm orange, no oddly violent rusty tints coating over them. He looked capable enough of using his claws and teeth, but there was no sign of wanting to hurt her. In fact, it seemed to be the opposite-He looked like he wanted to _help_ her.

The squirtle gave her a weird look. "Blaze, I think there's something going on- she won't stop staring at you."

"W-wha . . .?" Leaf realized she had been staring at the charmander for the last few seconds. She quickly glanced away, feeling embarrassed. "Oh, sorry."

"Nah, It's okay." The charmander said.

 _Firefang would have punched me in the face if he ever caught me staring at him._ Leaf thought. _I guess I shouldn't judge this charmander by who Firefang was. These are obviously nice, friendly Pokemon. Or at least that's what I assume from what I've seen of them so far. Remember what happened with your trainer. I shouldn't trust them until I know I can._

The squirtle leaned a little closer to her, but not too close. " What's your name?'

" I- oh, I'm Leaf." Leaf said, relieved she wasn't going to be bombarded with questions she didn't want to talk about yet. " What's your name?"

"You're gonna laugh." the squirtle said. "Everybody laughs at my name."

"I don't laugh at your name." The charmander reminded him quietly.

"Well, everyone else laughs at my name. It doesn't make sense. At least _your_ names are related to your typing. I'm just random."

"I like that it's random." said the charmander. " My name is kind of lame. Blaze. It's really generic. _Tons_ of Fire-Types are named Blaze. It's not even a good name. But your name feels more original and makes you unique. Plus, I think it sounds pretty cool."

The squirtle stared at him. "Bro. I'm trying to have an argument here."

Blaze frowned at him. "Go on, tell Leaf your name."

"Fine." said the squirtle. "I'm Zephyr."

It _was_ a little random, but Leaf had to admit that Blaze was right. It gave him some personality, not emphasized the fact that he was a Water-Type.

"See, that wasn't too hard." Blaze said to Zephyr. "And my name is Blaze."

Leaf nodded numbly, a little overwhelmed. "Okay. Nice to meet you, I guess. But where am I and why am I here and who are you and how did you find me?"

"We're Team Crystal, an exploration team," said Zephyr. "We go on missions in mystery dungeons and find treasure and explore unknown areas."

"Your in a forest, we found you unconscious near a Pokemon Center while we were heading back to the local town after an exploration." Blaze explained. "You looked pretty hurt, so we gave you a Reviver Seed and some Oran Berries. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. By the way . . . thanks. For saving me." Leaf said.

Blaze nodded. "So what exactly happened?" he asked her.

Leaf had to make a choice: stay hidden and safe, or trust somebody else right away? Leaf felt these two Pokemon were trustworthy, but she had also thought her trainer was trustworthy. Leaf decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell them what happened, so she told them everything she remembered.

"Wow. So you're just like us." Zephyr said when she had finished.

"I am?" Leaf asked, confused. "How?"

We have nicknames. We're the three local starters. We have no trainers. Can you guess?" Blaze asked.

Leaf thought. "You guys were from a lab and given out as partners, like me, which is why you have nicknames." she said slowly, realizing as she spoke. "And . . . you were abandoned by your trainers? Is that why I'm so much like you? The same thing happened to you guys?"

Blaze and Zephyr nodded.

"Oh, wow. So what happened to me isn't that uncommon." Leaf said. "At least you guys are friendly. No offense, Blaze, but in the group I was put in with, the charmander was really aggressive. Like, bit me if I said hi to him aggressive. There are actually a lot of aggressive Pokemon, lately. It's really weird."

"We've noticed that too." Zephyr said. "Maybe it's seasonal? I haven't been an explorer that long to notice anything strange."

"I dunno." Leaf said, dismissing the topic. It wasn't important right now. What was going on right now mattered more to her at this second.

'Oh, yeah!" Blaze said. "Zephyr, remember the Poke-Ball we found near her?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, go get it!"

"Oh, okay!" Zephyr ran towards where the two of them had been sitting before and dug through what looked like a bag. A minute later he came back, holding a smashed red and white object in his hands. It looked like it had been smashed by a foot and thrown away to the ground.

It was what had been Leaf's Poke-Ball.

Before then, even though she realized how selfish and mean her trainer was, a teensy fraction divided by a million pieces had been hoping she was dreaming or something. That cell-sized piece of her broke at the sight of her crushed Poke-Ball. She could already picture her trainer carelessly dropping the ball to the ground and stepping over it. _Crunch._ She wasn't his problem anymore. And he simply walked away with Reed, not thinking about what he did was so cruel. If somebody asked him who Leaf was, he'd have no idea who they were talking about. And if he did, he's just say, _You mean that weakling I abandoned? Yeah, so? She was really worthless, so I got rid of her._

Leaf grabbed the Poke-Ball with her vines and smashed it to the ground, letting it shatter and sputter and spark, feeling satisfied. She didn't want to be with him anymore. She never wanted his face to show up in her memory, ever. Leaf was done with him. He had never had the patience to just work with his Pokemon to help them get stronger. He just wanted strength. He would probably do the same thing to all of his Pokemon, replace them for something stronger because he was too lazy to train with them.

"There," she said. "He's not my problem anymore. Now I'm free from that lazy, selfish human. Now I never have to see him again." She felt satisfied with those words. He had abandoned her? She would abandon him. _I don't need him. I'm a strong Pokemon who can decide what to do with her life and fend for herself._ Leaf had never felt so unlike herself. What was she even doing? But it felt good. Because they obviously didn't deserve each other. "And if I do see him again, I won't crawl back to him. I won't _ever_ crawl back to him.

 _AAAAAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_ Immediately her anger faded into fear. _WHAT WAS THAT?!_ she frantically thought, looking around.

"What was that?" Zephyr asked, sounding worried. "It sounded like a howl."

 _AAAAAAAA-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_ Leaf could hear faint footsteps now, and she sensed a presence nearby. And it didn't feel friendly.

"We forgot to spray Repel!" Blaze cried, smacking his claws to his forehead. "Mightyena!"

"Mightyena?" Leaf asked. "I don't see any . . . " Her voice trailed off at the sight of six glaring, glowing eyes. Wolf eyes. Vicious wolf eyes. Three faces emerged from the brush, looking hungry and angry.

The two mightyena on the sides leaped out of the bushes.

Then the third stepped out. He was much bigger, had more black fur, and had a long, diagonal scar across his nose, ending into a rip on his left ear.

They lifted their heads into the air and gave a long, spine-tingling howl in chorus.

" _AAAROOOOOOOOOOO!"_

* * *

 **(A/N) _SILVERSCEPTER:_ So basically, in the region this takes place in, in every area there is a lab. Each trainer goes to the local lab to receive a starter. This story takes place close to the lab that gives out the Kanto starters as partners, which is why they are all Kanto starters. The starters are born in the lab and are named shortly after they are born, before they are given to their trainers. I know Zephyr's name is kind of random, and ****he's sometimes worried Pokemon will make fun of it. I like the fact that it isn't something like Squirt or Shellhead or something. It makes him interesting. That's why all the names are different.**

 **These will be the three main characters that will be in every chapter from now on. Leaf has more of a shy, quiet, docile personality, Zephyr is a bit of a jokester and straight to the point, and Blaze is kind and careful, but he's smart and resourceful.**

 **Who's your favorite character (or at least so far)? I always enjoy feedback and will be happy to answer any questions you have about the story. Just write your questions in a review of the chapter and I'll answer it in the next chapter! Please, NO INNAPROPRIATE QUESTIONS!**

 **The next chapter is really short and already typed up, so it'll be here very soon!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N) Alright, chapter 3 is here!**

 ** _SILVERSCEPTER:_ I should probably explain about where this takes place, as in how the region works.**

 **So basically, there are labs around every area in the region. Each lab gives out a a different set of starters. There are human towns, shops, routes, ext.**

 **Then there are Pokemon who don't travel with trainers. Some of them are called "Wilds" who attack for no reason. More on that later in the story. And then the other types are more . . . civilized. The towns/bases for the Pokemon come in next chapter.**

 **There are mystery dungeons in this story, but humans don't know about them because only Pokemon can enter them/see them.**

 **That's the best short-answer answer I have.**

 **There'll be more characterization in this chapter, but more with Zephyr than Blaze.**

 **That's pretty much it! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Leaf and Blaze immediately shrunk away from the group of mightyena, leaving Zephyr standing there by himself. He quickly realized he was standing off against three dangerous, hungry Pokemon and gave an angry glare at the two of them.

"Hey, c'mon! You can't just leave me here to die!" he complained.

"We won't, just . . . see what they want," Leaf said.

"But why _me?"_

"Because you're strong, so you'll be able to hold the front line during the first attack because of your strong defense." Blaze said, which Leaf interpreted as _you won't get killed the second they attack you._ "Plus, you're Zephyr."

Zephyr sighed angrilly. "Fine, but you owe me big time."

"How big?"

Zephyr thought about that for a moment. "One night of all-you-can-eat-smore's with the smore's already toasted and hot."

"No problem." Blaze said.

"But you roast them on your tail, because then they won't get all dusty or covered in burnt stuff."

Blaze frowned at him. "Whatever. Just go, they look . . . aggressive."

"Bro, you don't have to tell me twice." Zephyr said. He glanced at one of the mightyena and shuddered. "Alright. Remember the deal about those smore's. And make sure that-"

"I'LL REMEMBER YOUR SMORE'S!" Blaze cried, throwing his claws into the air. "JUST GO ALREADY!"

"Alright, alright!" Zephyr said, looking annoyed that Blaze had been so careless about the fine art of how to roast smore's. Although Leaf had to admit she wanted to try these "Smore's" things for herself; she had no idea what they were, but they sounded like some kind of yummy food that you warmed up on a fire.

Zephyr walked over to one of the smaller mightyena flanking the leader first. "Err . . . hey, what's up, bro?" He asked nervously. "So, I was wondering, what would a couple mightyena like you guys be doing out here? It's not like you're gonna attack us or something, right? So tell me, bro, what're your plans for the evening? What made you guys stop by? Are you into sports? I mean, you don't look like the average athlete, all dirty and skinny and scarred, but hey, we all can dream, right?"

Nearby, Blaze sighed and closed his eyes tiredly. Leaf simply face-pawed. This was not going well.

The mightyena, meanwhile, stared blankly at Zephyr in disbelief as he continued to speak.

"So, do you have any hobbies? Anything you like to do for fun when you're not working for the Boss-mon? No? Oh, you must be the shy, quiet guy of the group, eh? Well, what about sign language? You know, where you use your hands and fingers to make signs for words? Do you know sign language? Oh wait, you have no fingers. Or hands. So . . ."

When he gave up on trying to make the smaller ones talk, he went to the boss.

"Hey, hey there bro . . ." Zephyr said, looking a little nervous. "So, I hear you're the boss of these two fine, runty grunts, eh? Haha, hey, I know it's not easy to lead Pokemon like the ones you've got here, but if ya keep trying, you'll get there! You've just gotta believe, right?" He laughed nervously.

"He is trying to get us killed." Leaf decided. "He is trying to get us killed. Arceus, please stop Zephyr _right now_."

The leader was currently snapping at Zephyr in agitation. Zephyr backed up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Bro, what the heck was that? Can't you just cool off or something? What do you want?"

" _Silly squirtle, so young and ignorant."_ The mightyena growled in a low, scary voice.

"Hey, I'm not ignorant!" Zephyr said angrily. He turned to Leaf and Blaze. "Hey, did I do good? I think I buttered them up, so at least the smaller, weaker ones will be a little reluctant. So, was I great out there?"

"Welll . . ." Blaze said.

"Arceus, you were horrible." Leaf told him. "Next time, try to make the enemy _less_ likely to kill us."

" _I'm getting hungrier."_ The leader announced. _"And bored. And when I get bored, I get impatient. And when I get impatient, I get cranky. And when I get cranky, I get even hungrier. And I feel very cranky and very hungry right now."_

"Oh, you're hungry?" Blaze asked, who had been inching away from the mightyena, shaking. "Well, luckily, you're in luck, because we still have some spare Oran Berries!"

The leader gave a laugh without any humor in it, more of an _'is he serious?'_ laugh. " _Oh, I don't want your puny pawfulls of little berries. No, I had some_ other _prey in mind. And luckily, I seem to have found the jackpot here. Three easy morsels of prey. Big enough . . . for me."_

Leaf turned to Zephyr. "NO SMORE'S FOR YOU, WHATEVER SMORE'S ARE!"

The pack leader chuckled. " _Unfortunatly, it wasn't the squirtle's fault. Why else would me and the pack come here for? To_ 'hang out' _and be_ 'bros'?"

"Oh, don't you insult the slang of the word 'bro'!" Zephyr said.

" _I wouldn't dream of it."_ He hissed. " _But I would dream of defeating you in a battle."_

Leaf tried to make herself smaller. First the threat of being released, then of being obliterated by Reed, then the scary thought of being beaten up by Blaze and Zephyr, and now this? She felt annoyed, angry, and petrified to death. But mainly petrified to death. Those sharp teeth did not look like they were made to chew on apples.

"Well, you're underestimating Team Crystal!" Zephyr said, sounding braver than he probably felt. "We're the awesomest, strongest exploration team ever! We won't loose to a couple stray dogs wandering around! You weaklings will never defeat us!"

"Just stop talking." Leaf said. "Just don't let any more words come out of your mouth."

 _"_ _Enough!"_ The pack leader growled. " _I've waited long enough. Let's get this done already."_

Zephyr sprung at the smaller mightyena on the left and began to shoot gigantic bubbles at it. The bubbles burst in it's face, making it whimper as it got wet.

" _I'm wet! I'm all wet!"_ It whined. _"Ooh, I HATE being wet! Aawhawhaw I'm SO wet!"_

"You got a problem with being soaked?" Zephyr asked, pausing his attacks to ask the whiney wolf.

" _Yes, I get all cold and soaked and then the wind makes me SO COLD! Ugh, I hate it, I hate it, I HATE IT!"_

"Wow, you're grumpy." Zephyr said. "You should get some hot water, it'll make you feel better. Also, you'll be warmer." He shot a blast of steaming water at the mightyena. The Scald splashed onto his face with a _hiiiiiiiss_ as it collided with the cold water.

The mightyena shrieked. _"Aah, too hot, too hot, TOO HOT!"_ It whined, pawing at its face. " _That's it, no more! I'm tired of being too hot or too cold! my face hurts and my body is cold! I'm leaving!"_ He scampered away into the bushes, still complaining and whimpering about his burnt face.

"Aw yeah, one down, two to go!" Zephyr said, punching the air.

Blaze was battling the mightyena that had been on the right. He had a weird battle style; instead of immediately going on the offense, like most charmanders, Blaze seemed to be slowly gaining tiny advantages to eventually let loose on his opponent. He would slash at the tail, blow embers at the ground, cause some burns, and attack at open points in only a minute without getting hit. The mightyena was going on the offense and not even noticing these small details, but Blaze was obviously watching carefully for any advantages.

"Blaze's battle style is . . . different." Leaf said. "The charmander I was grouped with, Firefang, would only focus on defeating the enemy, not every little thing he could do to tweak the chances of him winning."

"He's the weirdest charmander I've ever met." Zephyr agreed. "He's not all offensive, but prefers to slowly whittle down his enemy before using a final move to end the battle. A regular charmander would just use Flamethrower."

Blaze was currently trying to hit the mightyena with a fire attack, but the mightyena seemed to read his mind and dodge just before Blaze would strike. Blaze was loosing stamina quickly, and actually missed a opening he obviously saw but couldn't attack in time.

"I'd better go help him." Zephyr said, and he ran off to shoot some Scalds at the mightyena.

Leaf suddenly noticed two yellow scleras with red irises just behind Zephyr. There was a slight twitch in the darkness as the bigger mighyena slowly crept up behind the squirtle, who obviously had no idea the leader was behind him. The wolf's back legs reared up, tail went straight back, and front legs bent.

He was going to pounce.

"ZEPHYR!" Leaf screamed, but she was a second too late. The giant mightyena grabbed Zephyr by the tail and lifted him into the air.

"OH OWowOWowOOOOOOWWW!" Zephyr was screaming as he dangled from the mightyena's maw. "ARCEUS HELP OOOOWWW THIS HURTS REALLY BAD! GET ME DOWN!"

" _Oh, you want to go back down?"_ The mightyena asked through Zephyr's tail. " _Alright. You just had to ask."_ The mightyena tossed Zephyr into the air. He landed on the ground.

"Ow . . ." He mumbled, before his eyes rolled up to his head, signaling the squirtle was unconscious.

"Zephyr!" Leaf and Blaze yelled in sinc. They both ran for him, but Blaze was closer.

Suddenly, the mightyena Blaze had been fighting jumped for Blaze. Blaze was caught off guard and had no time to react. In a swift Sucker Punch, Blaze was lying on the floor as well, also unconscious.

Leaf's temper, which had been stirring and splashing all day, rose up to her chest. "Hey, you don't just knock out a Pokemon when it's not your turn! That's against the Pokemon League battle rules, you know!"

" _Oh, sorry."_ The mightyena said mockingly. _"It's just that this isn't a trainer against trainer type of Pokemon battle. This is a_ real _battle, and I'm not going to listen to some lousy human rules."_

Leaf sent out her vines and slapped at the mightyena until red marks were visible. He howled angrily and tried to run away, but Leaf cornered him with her vines and used Razor Leaf. Cuts appeared where the sharp leaves had hit him.

 _"_ _Y-ya know what? I'm gonna go find that other pack member that ran away now."_ He didn't wait for an OK from his boss and ran away, but in the opposite direction the first mightyena had fled, meaning he was just fleeing from the battle as well.

" _I guess I brought cowards with me,"_ The leader said. " _Running away because they're scared, even though there's nothing to be afraid of, that doesn't put them on my good side."_

"Just leave, or you'll end up like your pack members." Leaf said. "Running away because you know you can't win."

The mightyena laughed. " _Don't make me get angry. That_ _squirtle already made my rage sharpen, and you don't want to see it sharper than it is."_

Leaf slapped his maw with her vines, but he snapped at them and made it impossible to aim. Leaf soon realized she couldn't win this with a Vine Whip.

 _That's what you tried in every battle you had when you still had you're trainer, so try something else._ She remembered Blaze's strategy: Whittle down the opponent before going for the finish. No, she had to end the battle as soon as possible. There was no time stock up on advantages.

Leaf began to run around as the mightyena barked and bit and attacked. She passed a little too close to the fire and felt a spot on her bulb get burned, but kept running in fear of the mightyena. She paused when she saw Zephyr's bag lying on the floor. There were some items spilling out of it. Hesitantly, she pulled out a bright gold seed. It was a Reviver Seed. She grabbed two of them and ran for Blaze, then stuffed one of the seeds in the charmander's mouth. That had to work. She was about to give Zephyr the other seed, but the mightyena was dangerously close. Leaf placed the seed near Blaze, hoping he'd understand to give it to Zephyr.

" _Don't be a fool, stop running away and face me so I can defeat you easier."_ He hissed.

Leaf stopped and sent a flurry of razor-sharp leaves at him. The green crescents blew everywhere, and while some pierced a tree or the ground, most of them hit the mightyena. While he was fazed, Leaf ran in for a tackle and slammed into him with all the strength she could muster, whipping him with her vines for a little extra damage.

" _W-how are your attacks so p-powerful?"_ He asked, staggering up.

"I guess I just got lucky." Leaf said. "But don't worry, you can be lucky by running away before I use it if you don't want to seize that stroke of luck . . ." She sent out a single, sharp leaf and let it spiral around the mightyena so that he knew she was serious.

He chuckled humorlessly. " _If I wasn't so weakened from all the battles I've been in, You would have fallen to your knees ten minutes ago. Alright, I'll give you mercy and leave."_

The mightyena howled and jumped over the bushes, Leaving Leaf alone. For a few seconds, she felt normal and happy that she'd won. Then she realized how _tired_ she felt. She had gotten attacked a few times, and the Razor Leaves had caused some fatigue. Her knees buckled a little.

"Whoa, that was AWESOME!" Zephyr said, running up to her. Blaze was following him. The Reviver Seeds must have worked.

"It was a really good battle." Blaze agreed. Both of them looked dazed but alright.

"Yeah . . ." Leaf muttered absentmindedly. She could feel herself blanking out for the second time that day. Her bulb had brushed the fire while she was running, and the burn was slowly but surely sapping her strength. In a final flare of pain, she felt herself fall to the floor. She only remembered hearing one thing before blanking out:

"So, do I still get my all-you-can-eat-smore's buffet?"

* * *

 **So how about those Smore's?** **Zephyr was a little blind to what he was saying.**

 **Please remember to write a review! Again, if you have any questions about the story or for the characters, I will happily answer them in the next chapter (Please, nothing inappropriate)!**

 **This chapter was a little short, but the next one will be much longer.**

 **That's it! Next chapter coming soon!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N) Sorry for the long update.**

 **WOW, Already this story has OVER 50 VIEWS! Considering the fact that I started this story around a week ago, I'm really surprised and happy.**

 **Other than that, there isn't much else to say.**

 **I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _It was the middle of the night. A figure ran in the darkness. Every few minutes it would stop to look around, but otherwise it would just keep running._

 _"_ _I have to hurry so I don't get caught . . ." The figure muttered. It ran a little more and suddenly skidded to a stop. "Here. Perfect. I didn't expect to find it so quickly."_

 _Something weird coursed through the air. The figure looked around in astonishment._

 _"_ _Is my presence already known of?" The figure wondered aloud in bewilderment. "If that's the case, I'd better move quieter. Will that help, though? Maybe a wormhole . . . No, this close would be like sending up a beacon. I guess my best bet would be to lean on stealth."_

 _Another course of that energy again._

 _"_ _Soon," said the figure. "This is one out of six, and there'll be plenty more to find. Probably should've gone for light first, but this one had the only location I knew."_

 _The dark outline became a little clearer, but before she could see who the mysterious figure really was, everything melted into the darkness._

* * *

"Hey, Leaf, c'mon, get up."

Something was shaking her. Leaf opened her eyes and realized it was Blaze. The fire had gone out, and bright daylight shone through the canopy of leaves.

"What?" She asked, pulling herself up. "Wait, it's morning? Already?"

"Yeah, we decided to let you sleep through the night." Blaze said.

Leaf nodded. She had had this weird dream last night. Oh well, it was just a dream. She would worry about it if she needed to.

Leaf stood up and stretched. It really was a beautiful day today, with the sun shining and everything.

"Yo, you're finally up!" Zephyr said. He walked over and handed her a big, bright red apple.

"What's this for?" Leaf asked, staring at the fruit.

Zephyr stared at her. "Uh . . . to eat? What else?"

"Oh." Leaf said, feeling embarrassed. She took a small bite of apple. It was really good. She took another, larger bite.

"So, we're leaving after breakfast, right?" Zephyr asked Blaze.

"Yes. If we start soon, we should make it in only half an hour."

"Awesome." Zephyr said. "That last mission was fun, but I really want to get back to Azure."

"A-Azure?" Leaf asked, confused. "What's Azure?"

"The local town." Zephyr said with a shrug. "We live there, and it's basically a mission central. Well, Treasure town is busier, with the exploration guild and all that, but Azure town is really cool too."

"Since there are no guilds or training academies anywhere near Azure town, we have to train ourselves." Blaze said. "So the process slows down since there's no mentor."

"If I'm getting this clear, this is a town that is also inhabited by Pokemon?" Leaf asked.

"What do you mean, _also_?" Zephyr asked. " _Only_ pokemon live in it! Have you ever heard of Obsidian Village? Elderly Springs?"

Leaf shook her head.

"Oh. Well I've never been to either."

"Why not?" she asked.

"BECAUSE OBSIDIAN VILLAGE IS LITERALLY ON THE SIDE OF A VOLCANO THAT I'M PRETTY SURE SHOOTS LAVAS OUT OF IT'S MOUTH ALL THE TIME AND ELDERY SPRINGS HAS A BUNCH OF OLD POKEMON! AND LAVAS!"

"Ooh-kay . . ." Leaf said. "So there are no humans? No Pokemon Marts or Centers to buy items or heal you up? No houses or anything?"

"No, there are houses and stuff!" Blaze said. "There are shops and facilities that take over the roles of marts and Pokemon Centers. And Zephyr, there is no such thing as _lavas_. You just say _lava_ , like, a horde of _miltank, not miltanks."_

"Well, what's wrong with saying lavas and miltanks? Will it kill you if I say awrodeyctialis?"

"What's an awrodeyctiali?" Blaze asked.

"That purple dragon-pterodactyl 's rock flying, and-"

"You mean _aerodactyl?"_

"Whatever." Zephyr said. "Aerodactyl, awrodeyctiali, arkensaw, it doesn't matter."

Blaze slapped a claw to his forehead. "And I assume you call gyardos _guyiariadaws_ or something?"

"Of course not. And by the way, it's pronounced _guyoariadious supreme._ "

"W-WHERE DID YOU GET THE SUPREME FROM?" Blaze cried, thrusting his arms into the air.

"The internet." Zephyr replied with a shrug. "Google it, it's definitely pronounced _guyoariadious supreme_. Or was it actually _Giniarouse?"_

Blaze slammed his head into a nearby tree a few times. His mouth was opened, like he was screaming, but no sound came out.

"Aaaaaaaanyways . . ." Leaf said, thinking of something to say to change the subject. "Uh . . . so, what kinds of Pokemon live in Azure town?"

"All kinds." Blaze said, lifting his head and rubbing it. "I think the population is over a hundred. You'll see when we get there."

"I-" Leaf stopped. "Wait, I'm coming with you guys?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Well . . . first of all, we only met yesterday night, a few hours ago at most!" Leaf said. "And what would I do? I have nothing I need, nowhere to be . . . I don't live there like you guys, or do missions, and-and I was just released less than 24 hours ago, and I'm not used to being without a trainer . . . besides, I'm not even an explorer!"

"About that . . ." Blaze said, looking down at his feet.

"What?" Leaf asked, but as she said it a possibility came into mind. "No way . . . you want me to-"

"I was kind of hoping you would, actually." Blaze said. "You're strong, smart, and the exact same events brought you here that joined me and Zephyr together. You have nowhere to go, nowhere to stay, and nothing to do. Do you want to join Team Crystal and become an explorer?"

Leaf had not been prepared for that when she woke up this morning. Join an exploration team on the spot? She liked Blaze and Zephyr a lot, and was actually beginning to consider them as friends. Joining a team with them would probably be fun.

But this was what she had been trying to avoid-letting herself trust and join somebody to quickly. She didn't want to blow them off, and Blaze was right about her having nowhere to go now-but joining an exploration team right away was a little . . . extreme and sudden.

And then the perfect solution popped into her head.

"The thing is, I've never explored or even _been_ in a mystery dungeon." Leaf said. "I'm guessing that you guys go into them and explore dungeons, but I have no experience with Mystery Dungeons at all."

Zephyr looked at her like she was crazy, and his eyes said ' _who needs "experience"_ _and what is it'_ , but Blaze seemed to understand her point.

"I have an idea, though." Leaf said. "I can come to Azure Town for a day and go on a mission thingie, and then I'll decide if I want to join Team Crystal."

"That's a good idea." Blaze said. "Okay then, we'll head to Azure right now and choose an easy mission to do for the day."

"As long as it's not for a forgeliest," Zephyr said. "They look like rotten jack-o-lanterns with pink hair. And their pre-evolved form? Boompakou?"

Blaze covered his face with his claws and screamed. "IT'S _GORGIEST!"_

"Bro, we discussed this. I don't care how to pronounce things. As long as they don't kill me for saying it wrong, it's fair game."

Leaf decided that if she ever wanted to torture Blaze, she would make Zephyr pronounce a bunch of names wrong. And since there were over 700 Pokemon, it should't be too hard to come up with some stuff to make him say wrong. She could already see it. _Gordeeveviawr. Pieofioneeai. Amollamadolamolaloha._

Well, it was easy to mispronounce that last one. Leaf could never say it correctly. _Alomalomamo? Amolamomola?_

* * *

By the time they stopped, Leaf was too tired to think of any more names for Zephyr to annoy Blaze. The walk had been long, and even with the sun giving her an energy boost, she had tired from it around halfway.

They had stopped at two trees that had grown lopsided so they intersected with each other, creating an arch that acted like a doorway. An Ursaring was standing in front of the arch, stopping anyone from going through it.

"Yo, Ursaring, you on guard duty _again_?" Zephyr asked.

"Yup." said Ursaring in a deep voice.

"Bro, you need a _break."_ Zephyr said. "It's not like humans are actually gonna come here, and they're _definitely_ not gonna go _inside_ Azure Town."

"Actually, it's very possible." Blaze said. "The average full grown human is, depending on genetics, DNA and overall growth, around six feet tall, and if the length and width of this arch, which curves high enough for around that hight, is approximately-"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THOSE WORDS MEAN BUT THEY SOUND NERDY SO I'M SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS TO STOP THE SCIENCEY BRAINY STUFF!" Zephyr yelled loudly. When there was just awkward silence, he grinned. "Awesome, it works every time. Let's go in."

Leaf walked through the arch. Behind it was a sheet of soft ivy and leaves that made a curtain. Leaf went through the curtain and gasped.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but she was probably expecting to see a field of tall grass and some burrows. Instead, a huge clearing larger than the inside of a Pokemon Center was spread out in front of her. There was grass, but it wasn't long and unkempt like she would have thought. There were houses made out of wood and stone and clay and regular building materials humans might use, and though they were small and extremely likely one-roomed, they all had a unique customization to it. The houses were set next top each other to form a ring, and in the center of the circle of houses was a small, perfect blue lake. A little spring sprayed out of the middle of the lake, like a fountain.

"Arceus, Azure Town is amazing!" Leaf said in awe. "This town is huge!"

"What, you thought the North Plaza is all of Azure?" Zephyr asked.

"T-there's more?"

"Of course." Blaze said. "There's a south, east, west, and main plaza too. This is the North Plaza. The north and south plazas are the plazas with houses, and the east and west have rent housing and smaller, less important facilities. Oh, and the Main Plaza is the most important. It has the routes and paths that lead to dungeons and stuff, but also the important shops and industries."

"And of course, it holds the most precious thing to all explorers," Zephyr said in a slightly dramatic voice. "The Exploration Bulletin Board!"

"It's a big bulletin board with job requests, outlaw wanted posters, missions, and a list of nearby dungeons you can explore." Blaze explained. "It's extremely essential to being an explorer."

"So we're going to the Main Plaza?" Leaf asked.

"Yes, let's go." said Blaze. He led them to a path that was almost a straight line from the arch that also had a curtain.

"What are these curtain things for?" Leaf asked.

"Beats me." Zephyr said, then he walked through it.

Leaf went through and felt her jaw drop. This was not gasp-worthy or eye-popping. It was jaw-dropping amazing. It was twice the size of the North Plaza, which had seemed big but now felt tiny. Booths, shops, markets, and buildings dotted the Plaza. The bigger, or apparently more important shops were lined up in a ring, like the North Plaza. Smaller booths or salesmon were dotting the plaza as well. In the middle of it all, outlined with flowers and a cobblestone ring, was a big, crystal-blue lake. It was a beautiful, azure shade of blue and was double the size of the lake in the North Plaza. There was real, mon-made fountain in the middle of the blue lake.

"This is not possible." Leaf mumbled as Blaze walked through the curtain.

"Of course it is, you're looking at it!" Zephyr said.

Leaf looked around. There were so many things. All kinds of Pokemon, from Raticate to Pangoro were walking around, buying, selling, or simply relaxing.

"Blaze! Hey, Blaze!" called a voice. Leaf saw it was a combusken who was waving at Blaze.

"Oh, hi Colonel!" Blaze said, waving back shyly. "That's Colonel from Obsidian Village. He visits here scarcely."

"Ooh, he lives IN A VOLCANO!" Zephyr said excitedly. "Is he, like, immune to burns? Ooh, maybe I should get his autograph! Or tell him my combusken joke! ' _What do you call a chicken in a trash composted? A_ COMPOSTKIN!"

* * *

After viewing the town, the hotel-like rent-a-room building where Blaze and Zephyr were currently renting a room, and the rest of the plazas, Blaze said they should do some shopping before choosing a job request.

The shop they went to was called _Kecleon Market_ and was run by two Kecleon. They were both siblings and could change colors, though they couldn't change the red zig-zaggy stripe on their bellies.

"Hello, hello!" One of the kecleon said. It was the sister of the pair and was a rose-pink color (Except, of course, the little stripe on her belly). She seemed familiar with Blaze and Zephyr, but smiled when she noticed Leaf.

" Ah, a new face around town. Here, you get a free Apple the first time you shop here." She said, handing her a shiny red apple.

"Do you have any Reviver Seeds for sale?" Blaze asked.

"Lucky for you, I have one left in stock." Kecleon said. She gave Blaze a Reviver Seed. "That's 80 Poke, please."

Blaze handed her a pile of shiny gold coins. Leaf assumed it was the Pokemon currency.

"Thank you, is that all you would like to purchase today?"

"Yes, thank you, Kecleon." Blaze said, taking the Reviver Seed. "Okay, let's go choose a job."

* * *

Leaf stared at the blue bulletin board. In big letters, the words _EXPLORATION BULLETIN BOARD_ were printed on the top. On one side of the board, an assortment of wanted posters was pinned to the wall. Leaf glanced at the pictures of the wanted outlaws; Illumise, Darmanitan, Ambipom, Gliscor, Sudowoodo.

Blaze and Zephyr were looking at the other side of the bulletin board, which was the list of missions and job requests available. Soon, Blaze pulled a piece of paper off the bulletin board and showed it to Leaf.

"How's this one? It takes place at a dungeon that's really close by and isn't too hard, and it's also like treasure hunting, looking for a valuable item.

Leaf saw that the piece of paper had writing on it. She quickly read the small summary of the mission.

 _Dear kind explorers reading this,_

 _My name is Jumpluff and I am a resident of Azure Town, South Plaza. Yesterday I went on a short search to find a Leaf Stone for a good friend of mine, Gloom, in Shrub Meadows. I found a Leaf Stone, but I must've dropped it while I was still in the dungeon, because when I returned I could not find the Leaf Stone anywhere. I would go back into the dungeon to find it, but unfortunately I can't go back into the dungeon because I do not like mazes that much. Please find my Leaf Stone and return it to me._

 _I am offering 50 Poke for the return of my Leaf Stone and one Sitrus Berry._

 _-From Jumpluff_

"I didn't know we get rewards." Leaf said in surprise. "But that's alright by me."

"So, do you mind if we do that one?" Blaze asked.

"Sure, why not."

"HOLD ON A SECOND!" Zephyr said, snatching the paper away from Leaf. "We only get FIFTY Poke? That's a smaller reward than a E-Rank Outlaw capture!"

"The reward isn't what matters," Blaze reminded Zephyr.

Zephyr frowned. " I'd rather go to Obsidian Village and see an active volcano."

"Okay, that is an absolutely random thought that I am going to ignore simply because you're Zephyr." Blaze said. "But if Leaf has a problem with this mission, she can choose another."

"No, no! I don't have a problem with it!" Leaf said.

"Great, we can leave for Shrub Meadows now." Blaze said.

Excitement began to bubble inside of Leaf. She was going on her first ever exploration. And even though she had never been exploring, she felt like she was going to love it.

And if she did, her worst fear since being released wouldn't matter.

If she joined Team Crystal, she'd have a purpose, somebody who actually cared about her, and she would have fun doing her job.

And she could finally prove to that milifraction of a cell part of her that was worried that she still needed a trainer.

Leaf got more excited as they began walking to Shrub Meadows.

 _My first exploration._ Leaf kept thinking. _I'm going on my first ever exploration._

And as they walked to Shrub Meadows, she couldn't help but smile.

* * *

 **(A/N) I feel like that ended strangely . . .**

 **Here's something I noticed while writing this:**

Alomomola

 **And then, if you write it backwards . . .**

Alomomola

 **HINT: It's still Alomomola when you write it backwards.**

 **Now, because this already has over 50 views . . .**

 **The best way to torture Blaze is to pronounce Pokemon names like Zephyr. Because Zephyr is so . . . unique, Only he can pronounce them the way he does! If you give me the name of a Pokemon in your review, I will make Zephyr say it to Blaze in the next chapter's Author's Note. HAHAHAHA! Think of all the mistakes he'll make! Think of all the suffering it'll cause for Blaze! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?**

 ** _LEAF:_** **Because It'd be hilarious. Why else?**

 **All you have to do is write the name of a Pokemon in a review. That's literally it. It's so easy.**

 **Remember to write a review for the chapter! If you have any questions about the story, or for the characters personally, I (or they) will answer them in the next chapter. (As always, please don't write anything inappropriate)**

 **That's all I have to say!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N) WE HAVE REACHED FIVE CHAPTERS!**

 **Be warned that this chapter is SHORT. There wasn't really much to write, honestly. Anybody who's played any of the installments of the _Pokemon_ _Msytery Dungeon_ series knows what exploring a Mystery Dungeon is like.**

 **The chapter starts off immediately after Leaf and Team Crystal have entered the dungeon.**

* * *

 **AAAAAAAND NOW, WHAT EVERYBODY HAS BEEN WAITING FORRRR . . .**

 **Torturing Blaze with Zephyr's bad name pronuctiation!**

 **( _Reveals Blaze sitting in a chair, strapped to it with metal chains and handcuffs)_**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **Walks in holding a bag of popcorn. "Am I late?"**

 **No, no, you're exactly on time! Let the game begin!**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **"You don't have to do this! Seriously, this is not a good idea. COMEONIT'SZEPHYRI'VEBEENWITHHIMEVERSINCEI'VEMETHIM!"**

 **It's too late, I've already strapped you to a chair! Bring in Zephyr!**

 ** _ZEPHYR_ : "Hi! Hey, what am I doing in an Author's Note?"**

 **Zephyr, tell me the name of the Pokemon in the picture I show you or read the name I give you!**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Uhhh . . . okay?**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **"Popcorn anyone?"**

 **Oh, thanks! _(Takes a handful of popcorn)_ Now, let's see the first picture!**

 _ **(Picture of Kyogre comes**_ **up)**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **"Ooh, Ooh! I know this one! It's a . . . a Kiagorian! Or . . . a koi-oh-gri? Kyngogram?"**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Facepalms with claw that isn't handcuffed to the chair.**

 **ZEPHYR: "Or is it a Kay-yag-ori? Or a Klinestgre?"**

 **Alright, next up . . .**

 _ **(Picture of Kyogre disappears and is replaced by a picture of Giritina)**_

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **"WHAT IS THAT? Oh . . . wait, I know this one! It's a . . .It's Griller Tina!"**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Opens moth as if he is screaming and bangs back of head into headrest of chair many times. "No, no! Griller TINA? What-I** **can't-"**

 ** _ZEPHYR: "_ Did I say it wrong? Is it Distortion Guy? Martigratina? Girlataco? Grillataco? Garlic Grilled Tina Tacos! Supreme!**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **"SUPREME?! Ugh, first gyardos and now Giritina too?"**

 **Okay, here's the last picture before we swap to words!**

 _ **(Giritina turns into a misdreavus)**_

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Alright, I have a strategy for this one! It's a girl, so Ms. . . . And that's my strategy. Sooo . . . Missdragon? Missdrogo? Missdreadful? DreamMiss? Hmm. ... But If It's a boy, then it'd be MISTERDRACONICI! And of course, you can't forget the SUPREME part! MISTER AND MISSES DREDLOCKS!"**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Stops struggling and sighs. "I give up."**

 **Alright, let's swap to words!**

 _ **(The word ZORUA shows up on the screen)**_

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **"CORN!"**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Does many things to himself that hurt and/or torture him. "WHAAAAT?"**

 **Ookay . . . I'm guessing that . . . actually, I don't know what the Arceus happened, but here's the next one!**

 _ **(The word ZORUARK appears onscreen)**_

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Thinks for a few seconds. "Noah's ark! No, wait, it has a Zee in it . . . uh, Zangzwungarkoraps? Hold on, does Noah's have a Zee in it?"**

 **No, and, last word! We saved the best for last!**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **"Aww, I'm out of Popcorn! Okay, carry on."**

 _ **(The word CHARMANDER comes onto the screen)**_

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Sighs. "Zephyr knows how to say that, at least! I'm that word, after all!"**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Stares at the screen for a very very long time before he l** **aughs. "Oh, Blaze, You obviously need to learn how to read! That OBVIOUSLY doesn't say charmander, it says Chocolate! Horray for chocolate!"**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Hits himself many times while screaming like** **crazy while everybody else but Zephyr Face-palms.**

* * *

 **Sorry if that was too long, I got a lot of names. I hope you enjoyed that little 50 views special.**

 **Alright, now I can actually introduce the chapter. So, yeah. Definetly the shortest one so far.**

 **Imagine that Leaf, Blaze, and Zephyr just went on a long journey (approximately 15 minutes, actually) and entered the Shrub Meadows Mystery Dungeon a few seconds ago.**

 **Aaaaaaand that's it! Enjoy!**

* * *

Leaf stared at the messy brambles of bushes spiking out from . . . everywhere, it seemed. There were so many that they formed tight, hedge-like walls that were on either side of her, three feet apart. She had expected a peaceful meadow, but all she saw was shrubs, shrubs, SHRUBS.

"Why do they call this place _Shrub MEADOWS_ if there are only shrubs and no meadows?" Leaf asked.

"This are used to be a meadow, actually." Blaze said. "But ever since it became a Mystery Dungeon, it's been covered with shrubs and bushes. The bushes are spiky so nobody goes through the walls."

Zephyr pressed his hand against a particularly thorny bush. He yelped and removed his hand. "OW!"

"I just said they were spiky, why would you do that?" Blaze asked.

"Because I wanted to prove you wrong!" Zephyr said, cradling his bleeding hand. "Now my hand is all bloody, thanks a lot!"

"I just said-" Blaze sighed. "Just don't touch the shrubs if you don't want to get hurt."

Despite the fact that they were in a badly lit maze of thorny brambles, Leaf was excited and a little impatient to start the mission. She started pacing a little.

"Okay, I promise not to touch any shrubs, but ONLY because they are mean to my hand." Zephyr said. "Look, the thorns hurt me! Now I need a band-aid!"

"Can we start, please?" Leaf asked. She was eager to start the mission as soon as possible. She had never been in a Mystery Dungeon, but it looked like it was simply a maze. The only maze Leaf had ever been in was during a training session at the lab she'd been raised while she was extremely young. Though the memory of the event was very vague, she was pretty sure it had had something to do with trying to find a PokePuff that was at the end of the maze.

Leaf decided that the Dungeon was the little maze, and the Leaf Stone was the PokePuff. A triple-jumbo double-frosted PokePuff.

PokePuffs were good. Maybe they sold them in Azure Town? She would love to have one again, preferably the yellow ones with a lot of green frosting on top. Or maybe just a little PokePuff with almost all green frosting on it. Nah, forget the PokePuff. She would be satisfied with just a hunk of green frosting.

 _Well, you're not going to have a PokePuff right now. You're going to go on your first ever exploration, and you need to concentrate on it._ Leaf told herself.

"Yes, we should start before the sun goes down and it gets darker." Blaze agreed. "Come on, Zephyr, we have band-aids in the treasure bag, AND STOP STICKING YOUR HANDS INTO THE THORNS!"

"Why?"

"Because it's simply NOT SMART TO JAB MILLIONS OF THORNS INTO YOUR PALMS FOR NO REASON!"

"Ugh, okay!" Zephyr said, pulling his hands out of the thorny thicket of brambles. Blaze gave him two white bandages to cover the bleeding scrapes on his hands.

"Can I have the band-aids with them Plantzikalas on them?" Zephyr asked. "They look cooler."

Blaze sighed and handed him two purple band-aids, each with the picture of a Palkia on it.

"It's _Pal-ki-ah_ , by the way." Blaze said.

"Bro, have you learned _anything?_ I. Don't. Care. If. I'm. Saying. It. Wrong."

Blaze actually face-clawed, an accomplishment for somebody so . . . Blaze-like. "Whatever, alright? Leaf, you can be the Team Captain for this one because it's your first mission."

"Uh . . . but . . . I don't really know what to _do_." Leaf admitted. "I've never been exploring, remember?"

"It's as easy as saying _Mudkip_." Zephyr said.

 _If it's as easy as actually pronouncing a name_ right _for him, this must be hard._ Leaf thought.

Blaze seemed to read her mind, or at least her expression. "Just explore the Dungeon a little and look for the Leaf Stone."

"Oh, okay." Leaf said, relieved at how easy it sounded. She glanced around. She was in a maze, and the walls were made out of the sharp, thorn-bearing shrubs. She couldn't go through the shrubs unless if she wanted to be shredded.

Leaf walked straight until she met a fork. Left, right, or forwards? Leaf chose right and took that path until-

" _Haaaaaaaaaaaaalt!"_

It sounded like a battle cry, even though the voice was tiny and squeaky, like it had been tweaked to sound that way, ridiculously small and twangy.

Leaf stood in place, expecting something to happen. When the Dungeon remained silent, she took another step forward.

" _Halt I said! Haaaaaaaaalt!"_ yelled the tiny voice again.

A tiny swadloon jumped out of one of the brambles, squealing and yelling, blind to how ridiculously squeaky his voice sounded.

"It's a midget!" Zephyr said. "Aaw, It's so cute and useless!"

" _How DARE you!"_ Squeaked the swadloon, jumping up and down. _"I shall smite you with my String Shot!"_

The swadloon yelled a battle cry that was as loud as Leaf's regular volume of speaking and as squeaky as ever. It shot a few strands of sticky white silk at Leaf's feet. It wrapped around her two front feet and bound them together.

" _Hahaha! Am I a useless, adorably weak midget now?"_

Leaf spread her feet out a little. The string broke and fell away.

 _"WHAAAT!?"_ The swadloon cried. _"Well, your super strength is no match to my-"_

Leaf swatted the swadloon away. It flew many yards away, screaming.

"Yaaay! Leaf got the midget!" Zephyr cheered.

"Why did that swadloon just . . . attack us? For no reason?" Leaf asked.

"Because he was a midget!"

"He was a wild." Blaze said.

"A . . . wild?"

"A wild. It's what we call the Pokemon who have gone feral and live in the dungeons." Blaze said. "Some Pokemon think it has to do with the rising aggression of Pokemon lately, but my hypothesis is that it's because of the odd flow of space in Mystery Dungeons. They have an instinctive reaction to defeat whoever they meet, either because they assume they'll take over their territory or that they'll attack for some reason."

"Oh." Leaf said. She shrugged and thencontinued to choose paths and go the way they led. Occasionally, they would run into a wild, but unlike the swadloon, they put up a worthy fight. Leaf found herself getting damaged a few times during a fight with a tranquil and having trouble knocking out a roselia.

Despite the confusing turns and battling, Leaf loved the thrills she got at every crossroad, every new item and each defeat she achieved. She especially loved the mysteriousity she faced, since she didn't know what to expect or where she was really going. Exporing really was fun, and even though it was hard, Leaf enjoyed it.

 _I can't wait until I become an official explorer and go on real explorations,_ Leaf found herself think.

 _D-did I mean that?_

 _Yeah, I guess I did._

* * *

Leaf found another fork and turned left. She was walking almost unconsciously now, simply enjoying her exploration and not looking down at the ground, so she was shocked when she tripped over what felt like a measly stray stone.

"Agh!" she groaned, lifting herself off the floor. Leaf turned to look at what she'd tripped over.

It was a yellow-green rock with a green leaf pattern engraved onto it.

The Leaf Stone they had been looking for was lying right beside her.

"Yeees!" Leaf said, grabbing the stone and punching the air.

"You got it?" Blaze asked.

"Yep!" Leaf said, showing them the Leaf Stone.

"Awesome, we can leave now!" Zephyr said. "Because honestly, I don't want to deal with another tramcorgirl."

"TRANQUIL!" Blaze screamed.

* * *

It was dusk by the time they returned to Azure Town. Oddish seemed very happy that he had his Leaf Stone back, and, like his mission request had said, he awarded them with 50 gold coins and a Sitrus Berry. After returning the Leaf Stone, Zephyr suggested getting something to eat. Leaf was overjoyed when she learned there was a PokePuff shop that sold over 50 flavors of PokePuff and had over 100 toppings.

She ordered an extra-large yellow PokePuff with triple-extra green frosting.

And a leaf-shaped cookie on the top.

But it was mainly the green frosting that made her happy.

Arceus, she really did love green frosting.

"So . . ." Leaf said, licking frosting off her cookie after she finished some of her PokePuff. "You know what you said earlier . . . about me joining your exploration team?"

"Y-yeah?" Blaze aked nervously. He put his Orange-red PokePuff with Chocolate frosting on the table.

"I have to decline."

"WHAT?!" he and Zephyr cried, sounding shocked. Zephyr, who hadn't stopped eating for a second, got blue frosting all over his face when he jumped up.

"I have to decline . . . not joining your team."

Blaze looked confused. "So . . . are you joining or not?"

"Arceus yeah, I'm joining!" Leaf said. "Exploring is like, the best thing ever!"

Blaze smiled. "Okay then. Leaf the bulbasaur, I name you an official member of Team Crystal. You are now an official explorer and are part of Team Crystal."

Zephyr started clapping. He was still holding his blue PokePuff, and he still hadn't set it down before clapping, so he was spreading blue frosting and PokePuff all over his hands to match his face.

"Zephyr, look what you're doing to you're hands." Leaf said. "You're covered in Blue, look."

Zephyr looked down at his hands, which were covered in dark blue frosting and bits of blue PokePuff. He shrugged and started licking the frosting off.

 _I'm part of Team Crystal now. I'm an official explorer. I'm surviving and enjoying life. Without a trainer. I don't have to obey a human anymore. I can choose to do what I want to do now._ Leaf thought.

On that happy note, Leaf licked the frosting off her one paws.

 _I really love green_ _frosting._

* * *

 **(A/N) That was really short, I know. The next chapter should be longer.**

 **I'm pretty sure you can feed your Pokemon green PokePuffs in Pokemon Amie, but if you can't, I invented them.**

 **So, Leaf is part of Team Crystal!**

 **This chapter kind of felt like a filler to support the fact that she's an explorer now, but at least there's _some_ stuff in it.**

 **A plot should start forming in the next chapter _,_ but the main crisis/plotline won't start until later.**

 **Please write your review of this chapter! If you have any questions, I'll answer them in the next chapter (Nothing inappropriate, please!)**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	6. Chapter 6

**(A/N) Welcome to Chapter Six!**

 **Over a hundred views! ( _Claps_** **)**

 **The chapter starts off slow, but there's some important news in it too.**

 **If anyone has played Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, they may be able to link the events to the gameplay.**

* * *

 _The figure ran in the darkness. It seemed to be wet and in the middle of a storm._

 _There was a flash, followed by the sound of thunder._

Splash-splash-splash. _The figure continued running._

 _Another flash of lightning. The figure ran, faster._

Plash-splash-plash-splash-SPLASH! _The figure, who had been running so fast it was only a blur, skidded into the bushes._

 _Slowly, the figure rose. It fidgeted a little with something that seemed to be around its neck. The dark silhouette was holding something now . . . it shone like fire, lighting up everything around it. The silhouette placed down the glowing sphere and crouched down to look at it. However, the figure was not close enough to the orb for its face to be illuminated._

 _"Finally. I finally got it."_

 _The figure's head snapped up at the boom of thunder. "I have to go-should find some shelter, this storm doesn't look like it'll back down soon; They'll find me if I stay here too long. I can't let anyone find me, find_ this _-I can't get caught." The figure picked up the sphere, moved it near her chest, and fidgeted with something around her neck again. The glow disappeared. "No signs of light to the naked eye-always a worthy advantage." The figure got up and began running again, talking to itself as it ran._

 _"I should hurry with finding the rest-he'll be looking by now, especially since I'm gone. I should have left some kind of false clue, but it's too late now-I wonder if he's suspicious."_

CRAAAAASH!

 _"It's been some time, a month or so-he must not be looking for me, he would've found me by now, he would have found me in less than a day."_

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

 _The figure continued to run for a few minutes, never loosing speed._

 _The figure was running on a cliff now. It skidded to a stop at the sight of a long, deep gap in the rock, probably from an explosion._

 _There was a presence behind the figure, getting closer with every second._

 _The silhouette glanced behind it, then stared down into the gap._

 _The figure backed up a little; it roared and ran forwards; with a burst of speed, the dark silhouette leaped into the air, over the gap._

 _It was a quarter over-halfway over-it was starting to fall . . ._

* * *

Leaf awoke with a start, gasping. She had had this absolutely crazy dream-the second one in a row. Sleeping outside of a Poke-Ball was going to be hard to get used to.

She looked out the window. It was already morning, meaning she had to get up. Not that she minded-she was excited to do some more exploring.

Leaf got out of her makeshift bed. The little room Blaze and Zephyr were renting was part of _Froglass Rental Services,_ where a very nice Pokemon named Froglass let Pokemon rent a room for as long as they wanted. Since Leaf was sleeping in the room as well, she had to pay a third of the rent every month. The Poke she had earned yesterday wasn't even a dent in how much she had to save up for to pay the rent in a few weeks, especially since she was planning on buying a few more PokePuffs.

Blaze and Zephyr seemed to have left already. Leaf walked out of the little room and went down the stairs to the main lobby, where her new teammates were waiting.

"Hey, you're up!" Zephyr said happily. "Blaze is giving me lessons on how to pronounce things."

"I thought you didn't care." Leaf said.

"Well, I don't, but Blaze promised to buy me a PokePuff with his money each time I say every name in the lesson correctly." Zephyr said. "And I _do_ care about PokePuffs. So . . . Blaze said that you are a _Blulb-bla-sore?_ "

"Bulbasaur." Blaze said, correcting him. "Leaf is a _Bull-bah-soar._ "

"Oh, Bulbysaur."

"Not Bulb _-y,_ Just _Bulba-_ saur."

"That was still close." Leaf told Zephyr.

"Yes, I'm already starting to feel more sane." Blaze agreed. "So, are you ready for more exploring?"

"Of course!" Leaf said. She had been looking forwards to tho since she had woken up.

"Great, I was thinking we go after an outlaw today." Blaze said. "While it's more of a job for Rescue Teams, Explorers still do them."

"The rewards are good, too." Zephyr said. "An A-class capture is sometimes half of the rent."

"I was thinking a D or E-class outlaw, not an A-Class, though." Blaze said. "But Leaf should pick the outlaw to go after this time, not us."

"Okay." Leaf said. "But . . . do we have to use handcuffs and stuff? I'm not very fond of handcuffs . . ."

"Well, it's easier if you do, but if you aren't very comfortable with them, you can always use your vines." Blaze said, snapping her back into reality.

"Okay. When can we start?" Leaf asked.

"We should go buy items before we start the mission, right?" Zephyr said. "It's always good to stock up on items."

Blaze nodded, looking impressed. "Yes, it's always smart to do some shopping on Reviver Seeds, Oran Berries, or anything else that will help while exploring before going into a dungeon."

Zephyr stared at him. "What? Oh, I was just talking about getting some food. I'm starving."

* * *

A few minutes later, Leaf was in the Main Plaza at the Kecleon Shop. They were greeted by the brother today, who was a dark, grassy green.

"Hello, Kecleon." Leaf said, assuming his name was also his species name, like his sister, who wasn't at the shop today.

"Ah, hello. I hear you are the newest member of Team Crystal?" Kecleon asked.

"Yeah," Leaf said. "I joined yesterday."

"Hey, Kerkeleon, I'm learning how to pronounce names right!" Zephyr said.

"I see that. You didn't call me _Cornkeyseon_ this time." Kecleon said. "Congratulations."

"Yep! That deserves a Blue Raspberry PokePuff, right? I think so! Blaze, I think you owe me a PokePuff."

"I said every time you pronounce a name _right_." Blaze reminded him.

"That was close enough!" Zephyr complained.

"Would you like to see our stocks today?" Kecleon asked Leaf, apparently used to Blaze and Zephyr arguing.

"Yes, please." Leaf said. "Do you have any berries?"

After buying some Oran Berries and a Reviver Seed, Blaze said that they would leave for the Bulliten Board and choose an outlaw. Leaf was putting the items in the bag Zephyr was always carrying, but she stopped when she heard talking from nearby.

"I'm gonna get a new toy, and I'll get the best one!"

"No fair, Pikachu said that we could all get toys! And I'm gonna PLAY and LOVE and HAVE THE BEST BEST BEST toy EVER!"

"Apples, apples, appley-apples!"

Three pichus were running to the shop, singing and talking about getting new toys and apples.

"Ah, hello, Pichu brothers." Kecleon said, waving. "What brings you here today?"

"Hi-HI-hi-HI!"

"Hello, Mr. Kecleon."

"Apples?"

A pikachu was running after the three pichu. He stopped when he got to them, gasping and looking annoyed. Leaf guessed he was around seven, close to her age.

"You guys, I said wait for me!" Pikachu said, panting. "Mom is going to be mad if she finds out you ran all the way to Main Plaza by yourselves!"

"It's alright." the pichu with the pinkest cheeks said. "I made sure the boys looked both ways before crossing the street."

"YOU DIDN'T!" The energetic pichu said. "We all RAN RAN RAN from the house to here, and I never even looked both ways ONCE!" he hopped around and around and around.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked a little. "Come on, Poko, you need to calm down."

The smallest pichu, the one who loved apples, tugged at Pikachu's ankle. While all of the pichus looked around the same age, this one was the smallest.

"What is it, Piku?" Pikachu asked, leaning over to pat the little pichu.

"Apple? Apple?" Piku asked, pointing to the apples on the table.

"Yeah, I'll get you an apple." Pikachu agreed. "Picha? You want an apple?"

The biggest pichu, who had pink cheeks, shook her head.

"Poko? Are you hungry?"

" No! I want my new toy! I'm gonna get a new toy, right Pikachu? Pikachu Pikachu Pikachu I'm getting A NEW TOY! I am getting a new toy, right, Pikachu?" He said, hopping around like crazy. "My own toy!"

"Yes Poko, I'll get _all of you_ a new toy after we buy Piku an apple. To _share_."

The three twins immediately groaned.

"I'll get you your apple now." Kecleon said. He handed Pikachu a bright red apple. "Twenty-Five Poke for the apple, but I'll make it twenty-four."

Pikachu gave Kecleon a handful of gold coins and gave Piku the apple.

"APPLE!" Piku said happily, hugging the new apple. He nibbled the top.

"Why do we have to _share_?" Poko asked. "We always _share_!"

"Because I don't have enough Poke to buy all of you an individual toy each." Pikachu said.

"BUT WHY DO WE HAVE TO _SHAAAAAAAARE?_ " Poko griped. "I HATE sharing!"

" Keep complaining like that and I won't buy you a toy at all." Pikachu said. "C'mon, let's go to the Toy Store so you can choose your new toy, and then maybe I'll get you guys PokePuffs after."

"POKEPUFFS!" The siblings said happily. Poko and Picha ran after Pikachu, but Piku was wobbling after them, stumbling from the weight of his apple. He tripped and dropped his piece of fruit, which rolled to Leaf. Leaf picked the apple up. Immediately, she felt dizzy. Everything in front of her blurred and slid in and out of focus.

* * *

 _A little Pichu was cowering in fear in a rocky place. It was Piku. In front of him, his siblings were trying to protect him, but something slashed at the air, very very close to Poko. A little red scratch showed up near his chin. Poko screamed and fell to the floor. Picha shoved him up and tried to cover Piku with her body._

 _"Silly pichus, why hide? I told you, I don't want to hurt you, just use you. Then you can go. So just help me out, alright?"_

 _"No!" Picha said. "You're mean and you're a stranger, and I'm never supposed to help strangers!"_

 _"Very well, then I suppose I have to convince you by using force."_

* * *

"Leaf? Are you okay?" Blaze asked.

"Huh?" Leaf blinked. She was back in Azure Town.

"You just zoned out for a second." Zephyr said.

"I . . . had a daydream or something." Leaf said. She shook her head a few times and blinked hard. "Ugh. Don't worry, I'm fine. Just a weird daydream."

Leaf realized that Piku was staring at her, waiting for his apple. Leaf gave it to him.

"Tankou!" Piku said, accepting his apple. He sniffed and inspected his fruit, licked all the bruises, and scampered away after his brothers and sister.

"What kind of daydream did you have?" Blaze asked.

 _Was that really a daydream? It felt so real . . . but if it wasn't a daydream, what was it?_

"Was it about me becoming king?" Zephyr asked. "Blaze says it's impossible, but _I_ believe!"

 _And why would I have it right at that time? I wasn't thinking about anything like that . . . just the exploration . . . and if that really was real, it'd be impossible! Piku was right in front of me! And that was a totally different area than where I am!_

"I'm not sure if hat was a daydream." Leaf said. "Why would I have a daydream?"

"You were probably just tired, Leaf." Blaze said. "Come on, let's go choose an outlaw!"

Leaf managed to push the thoughts about her 'daydream' away and focus on what was ahead of her-her first outlaw mission! Capturing a wanted criminal sounded exciting and a little scary. Leaf ran over to the bulletin board. There were some new wanted posters in the section the outlaws were grouped up in. Leaf scanned the various posters. Her eyes fell on the closest one, a poster about a Machamp.

 _ **WANTED: MACHAMP**_

 _ **I was exploring a dungeon when**_ ** _Machamp_ ****_jumped out and attacked me. I was knocked out, and Machamp took all my items! Watch out, all four arms pack quadruple the strength of a punch! Can somebody strong and smart help get my things back?_**

 ** _-Butterfree_**

 ** _C-CLASS OUTLAW_**

 _ **CURRENT LOCATION: BOULDER CAVES**_

 ** _REWARD: 500 POKE, PECHA BERRY, CHESTO BERRY_**

All of the posters had the same, if not extremely similar, format. She read every poster tacked to the bulletin board that didn't have an outlaw that looked too scary or hard. Leaf found an A-Class, three C-Class, two D-Class, and an E-Class. Blaze had said that E-Class was the easiest, so she decided to do the E-Class outlaw:

 _ **WANTED: DRIFTLOON**_

 _ **I was simply minding my own business when Driftloon floated down from above and snatched my Reflect Orb! Please get it back, I love my Reflect Orb!**_

 _ **-Glameow**_

 _ **E-CLASS OUTLAW**_

 _ **CURRENT LOCATION: TREETOPS FOREST**_

 _ **REWARD: 100 POKE**_

Leaf unpinned the wanted poster from the blue bulletin board and was about to show it to Blaze when she spotted Pikachu. He looked worried, and electricity was sparking from his cheeks.

"PIKU! POKO!" he was shouting. "PICHA?" He seemed to be looking for something, _somebody_ , Leaf realized, turning his head around and calling the names over and over again. "PIKU! POKO! PICHA! COME OUT, WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"Guys, I think Pikachu is looking for the pichus we met earlier." Leaf said.

"It seems so." Blaze said. "I thought he was getting them new toys. Why would they go missing?"

"Maybe they ran away!" Zephyr said.

"We should go help him." Leaf suggested, ignoring Zephyr's comment.

"Alright!" Zephyr said. He ran up to Pikachu. "Hey, Pikachu, why're you screaming? Don'tchya know your name is _PIKACHU_ , not _PIKU POKO PICHA?_ You know, if you want, I could teach you how to-"

Blaze grabbed Zephyr by the arm and yanked him away from Pikachu.

"Pikachu, are you . . . missing something?" Leaf asked. "Where are your siblings?"

"I . . . I can't find them." Pikachu admitted. "I was taking them to the shop that sells toys, and then . . . we passed by a-a Monferno, I think. He looked aggressive, kind of. Scared me a little, honestly. He looked at Piku and Poko like they were useful, and then I heard him mutter something, but I don't know what he said. And . . . and then I was on the floor, and the Monferno was gone . . . and I could find Poko or Picha or even P-Piku." Pikachu was pretty much crying now,. He was so worried that his cheeks were releasing static constantly.

"Don't worry Pikachu, we'll call Officer Magnizone and he'll find your brothers and sister." Blaze said. "If the Monferno did have something to do with it, it couldn't have been more than a few minutes ago, they can't be too far from here."

Leaf patted Pikachu's shoulder, not knowing what else she could do. She would be worried sick if she was in his situation.

Everything started spinning again, and Pikachu became a blob of yellow . . .

* * *

 _A monferno was holding a big sack. Pikachu was on the floor. Monferno gripped the sack and ran out of the plaza on one of the paths. The items in the sack writhed and yelled and struggled, but Monferno kept running._

 _He found a mountain and jumped from boulder to boulder until he reached the top, then let the sack fall from his hands. Three Pichus spilled out._

 _"Just what I was looking for, three little Pokemon I can use." Monferno said. "Except I have two for backup incase the first fails. Yes, this should work well, hahahah. Alright, who would like to help me steal some goods first? How about . . . you."_

 _Monferno pointed to Piku._

* * *

"Wha-" Leaf gasped. The scene she had just witnessed faded away into normal time. She lifted her paw from Pikachu's shoulder and looked around wildly, confused. _It happened again! What are these vision things I keep having?! But . . . that was useful . . . if that was really real, I know where Monferno took the Pichu Triplets . . . and we can still save them!_

"Leaf, what happened?" Blaze asked. "What's wrong . . . what are you thinking?"

"I know where Monferno took your siblings, Pikachu." Leaf said. "And I think we still have time, if we hurry."

* * *

 **(A/N) Any player of Time/Darkness/Sky knows what's going on with Leaf's 'Daydreams'.**

 **The Pichu/Monferno mission was based on the Azurill/Drowzee mission in Time/Darkness/Sky.**

 **Remember to write a review! Any questions, as long as they're appropriate, will be answered in the next chapter.**

 **That's all! Next chapter coming soon!"**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	7. Chapter 7

**(A/N) Sooooooo . . . sorry about the long update? I've been busy?**

 **Short chapter here, there wasn't much to say at all, really.**

 **Oh, and there's also the return of Legendary Band-Aids in this chapter!**

 **HORRAY FOR SINNOH LEGENDARIES BAND-AIDS!**

* * *

"You're absolutely sure?" Blaze asked again for the millionth time. Ever since they had started running to the Mountain, he had been asking that.

"No!" Leaf said. "But we're trying it anyways!" She kept running. They had to get to the mountain before Monferno did something terrible to the Pichus.

"But what if your WRONG?" Blaze said. "What if Monferno actually DIDN'T take the Pichus to the mountains, and what if he never even stole them in the first place!? Why would he want three little children, anyways? Why-"

"Bro, shush for a minute!" Zephyr complained. "The bulbiesaur says a fire monkey nobody ever knew existed near Azure put three kids who were with a supervisor and in the middle of a busy crowd in a sack and jumped onto a mountain to use them for something and we should go to a specific mountain to get them, WE GO GET THEM!"

"Thank you, Zephyr." Leaf said. "I think. I can't be sure with you right now." Leaf stopped running for a few seconds to rephrase her statement. "I can NEVER be sure what you mean, not just right now."

"I get that a lot." Zephyr said, slowing down a little to nod. "Don't worry, you'll learn. Blaze did."

"No, I didn't." Blaze said. "I doubt I ever will, honestly."

"Oh. Well, will you ever learn to SPEED UP?" Zephyr gave Blaze a little push to speed his running up, since he slowed down to ask his questions, and he asked every few minutes. "You're going VERY slow!" When Blaze stayed at the same pace, he gave him a small kick, which turned into a slightly larger kick, which then became a series of nonstop kicking and shoving.

"Hey-ow-stop kicking me!-I'm going as fast as I ca-OW! Zephyr, I mean i-Zephyr-ARCEUS, STOP KICKING ME RIGHT NOW I SWEAR TO ARCEUS I AM _THIS_ CLOSE TO USING FLAMETHROWER ON YOU!"

"Sheesh, alright!" Zephyr said, throwing his hands into the air and giving him a _'_ _Drama Mon'_ look. "I was just trying to make you walk faster!"

"BY KICKING ME TEN HUNDRED TIMES?!"

"Yeah, I just said that." Blaze said, laughing like Blaze could never understand.

"I know you just-I was just-I am so tempted to attack you right now it's unbelievable."

"Hey, at least you're speeding up." Zephyr said. He gave Blaze a very small push with his foot.

Blaze glared.

"Oh, sorry, I was running and my foot went a little too high." Zephyr said.

"Riiiiiiight . . ." Blaze said skeptically.

"What, you don't believe me?"

"Come on, look how close we are to the mountain!" Leaf said, trying to change the subject.

"What, you're a saint now?" Zephyr said.

"I-what?"

"I dunno." Zephyr said. "I'm confused. Hey, look how close to the mountain we are!"

* * *

After a lot of running (and being patient with Blaze and Zephyr) they made it to the mountain. It wasn't as big as Leaf expected it to be, which was good, because it meant less climbing.

 _Climbing._

They would have to _climb_ the whole entire rocky, unstable-looking, dirty, spiky mountain.

Suddenly the mountain didn't look smaller than she'd thought. It looked dirtier and rubblier than she'd thought, though.

Climbing was a huge, gigantic pain. Probably as painful as when Zephyr tried to speed up Blaze while they were running to the mountains. She got tired easily and scraped her feet several times, which was bad, because she was walking on dirt and small rocks.

Blaze seemed to be having the least amount of trouble, mainly because charmanders once lived in rocky areas.

Zephyr was doing _okay_ , but he mainly blasted everything in his path with a Water Gun. He got very into it, blasting anything within a three-foot-radius.

"HAHA, DIE, YOU ANNOYING PEBBLES!" he shouted, spraying water all over the ground. The pebbles skidded around the ground, falling down the sides of the mountain. The water splashed dangerously close to Blaze, who yelped in fear and leaped away, protecting the precious flame on his tail. He stayed a few feet farther from Zephyr after that.

"Zephyr, stay quiet." Blaze reminded the squirtle again after another " _Evil dirt, I shall DESTROY you!"_ "We don't want to be discovered yet."

"DIE, EVIL PARTY POOPER!" Zephyr replied, squirting water onto Blaze's face. He made a shocked, scared sound and cupped his claws over the flame on his tail, furiously wiping away any water near it. He made sure his tail was 100% dry and glared at Zephyr.

"DIE, EVIL PARTY POOPER!" Zephyr said again. "YOU'RE FANCY TAIL IS NO MATCH FOR MY WATER POWERS!" He shot some water near Blaze's tail again, and Blaze leaped away from the water just in time.

"Zephyr, I will DIE if that flame goes out!"

"So?"

Zephyr got a bad burn on his face a moment later.

Blaze stayed many yards away from him after that, but Zephyr got the message after being Flamethrowered to the face. He didn't, however, get the message to keep his head down.

"Can I have the Dialga Band-Aids, please?" Zephyr asked as he squeezed Rawst Juice all over his face.

He got two plain white Band-Aids with no designs on them and all of his Dialga Band-Aides scorched instead.

Zephyr watched his favorite Band-Aids float to the ground, black and flaming, in horror.

Zephyr looked at Blaze and his burnt bandages in disappointment. "Bro, so I splashed a little water in you're face-"

"YOU NEARLY KILLED ME!"

"So I nearly killed you, that doesn't give you the right to set fire to my Band-Aids! Now I have to use the boring white ones, and they don't even have a design!"

"We're almost to the top, _please_ , just put on the bandages so we can get moving." Leaf said. She was weakened from fatigue, but wanted to keep moving. Saving the Pichus was more important than resting or weeping over ruined Band-Aids.

Zephyr groaned and slapped the Band-Aids to his face. The Rawst berry had healed the burns well, so it wasn't a big deal, but he acted like Blaze had sliced off his face.

"Blaze has to say sorry for setting my face on fire first!" Zephyr said when it was time to get moving again.

 _We don't have time for this_ , Leaf thought in exasperation.

"I don't have to, you know that perfectly well, Zephyr, you also attacked me." Blaze said.

"I'm not going anywhere until you say you're sorry!" Zephyr said, sounding slightly whiney.

"BLAZE, JUST SAY YOU'RE SORRY SO WE CAN SAVE THE PICHUS ALREADY!" Leaf said. She was starting to get a headache from all this arguing, and Monferno might have hurt the Pichus by now.

"I'm _sorry._ " Blaze said, a little bitterly, truth to be told. "I'm sorry that I defended myself when one of my best friends shot water at me and got extremely close to killing me, then acted like killing me was no big deal."

"Apology accepted." Zephyr said, putting a hand to his chest. "That was beautiful, Blaze. Thank you, I will always cherish your breathtaking, heartfelt speech. Whenever I do something wrong, I will remember that wonderful, tear-bearing apology and stop, for now I know that I have never truly spoken a sincere apology. Thank you."

Blaze face-clawed.

"Let's just go." Leaf suggested, feeling like face-pawing very much herself.

* * *

The rest of the climb didn't feel ass challenging, because Blaze suggested that she used her vines to raise herself into the air. The climb was slightly awkward, though, because of the slight tension against Blaze and Zephyr. Leaf decided to ignore it; she had a long, long time ahead of her with these two Pokemon, and she realized she'd have to get used to the arguing.

When they finally reached the top, Leaf saw Monferno for the first time.

Monferno had a rusty orange-brownish coat, which, Leaf realized with a jolt, was very similar to the coloring of Firefang's scales. The blue mask above his eyes was extremely dark, almost dark violet. His teeth were very pointy, and steam sometimes curled out of his nose or mouth. The white collar of spiky fur around Monferno's neck was messy and a little torn. One of Monferno's arms was tattooed with dark, inky black, the black coiling around his arm and ending in a black splotch just above his fingers. The flame on his tail was crimson and dark gold, but the flame was barely visible, since the end of his tail seemed to be mainly black smoke.

Leaf shuddered at the sight of the outlaw. He looked so odd and strange, painful, even, and it hurt her eyes every time she looked at the monferno and glanced at Blaze. Her charmander friend was just so _calm_ and _good natured,_ especially compared to Monferno.

Leaf spotted a few boulders nearby. " _Let's hide behind those rocks,_ " she whispered, pointing to the boulders.

Blaze nodded and ducked behind the stones, followed by Zephyr.

Leaf peeked through the gap in the rocks to watch Monferno. He was shaking the sack, and three little Pichus fell out.

" _Just what I was looking for, three little Pokemon I can use."_ Monferno said. " _Except I have two for backup incase the first fails. Yes this will work well . . ."_ Monferno laughed, and the Pichus shrank away on fear.

" _Alright, who would like to help me steal some goods first?"_ Moferno looked at the three Pichus, and his eyes fell on Piku.

" _How about . . . you."_

His finger pointed at Piku.

Piku squealed in terror and ran to the very edge of the mountain, leaning against some boulders. Picha and Poko ran to their little brother and made a barrier with their bodies. Teensy sparks of static flew from their cheeks.

" _I just want you to sneak into that chest,"_ Monferno said, approaching Piku. He waved at an old looking, dusty box. " _And pull out all the valuables. Then I'll let you go, and you never have to do anything again. C'mon, now, get in the box, that keyhole is big, but it isn't nearly big enough for me . . . but for a teensy little baby like you, you can squeeze in in no time."_

Leaf looked at the old chest. The keyhole was indeed very big, and Piku could definitely squeeze through it if he tried . . .

"N-n-no!" Piku squeaked. "No, no, no!"

Picha and Poko wrapped their arms around Piku defensively. More static erupted from their cheeks until the stray electricity made a weak wall to cover the Pichus.

" _Hmm . . . not a bad defense."_ Monferno kicked the wall, and it shattered and fuzzed until it was just a few fuzzing sparks. " _If you could summon it properly."_

Monferno slashed one of his claws extremely close to Poko. while there was no severe damage, a small red scratch appeared near his chin. Poko screamed in pain and slapped both paws over the scratch, letting himself fall to the floor. Picha tried to get him back up, but he simply flopped over. She frantically tried to cover Piku with her body.

Monferno chuckled. _"Silly pichus, why hide? I told you, I don't want to hurt you, just use you. Then you can go. So just help me out, alright?"_

"No!" Picha said. "You're mean and you're a stranger, and I'm never supposed to help strangers!"

Leaf realized something: the same events that had happened in her vision/daydream were happening right now, right in front of her. Was this a crazy coincidence, or had she actually seen the future somehow?

" _Ver well, then I suppose I have to convince you by using force."_

"NO!" Leaf shouted, jumping up from her hiding spot. "You're not going to hurt them!"

Monferno laughed like she'd just told a joke. _"Ah, young bulbasaur, don't you see the disadvantage you carry? I am a proud, burning, strong fire type, while you are nothing but a measly vegetable that is tossed away if it isn't tasty enough. Don't you know that Fire beats Grass, little brussel sprout?"_

"And don't you know that Leaf is a BULBASAUR, not a BRUSSEL SPROUT?" Zephyr yelled, jumping out of the rocks. "Ohhh, the smokey chimp got schooled! Bro, you just got schooled, yo!"

"He's a monkey, not a chimp." Blaze said, coming out of the hiding place as well. "Chimchar is a chimp, Monferno is a monkey, and Infernape is an ape."

" _Ooh, we've got a veggie, a shell head, and a nerd."_ Monferno said.

Blaze actually got angry. "I AM NOT A NERD! I AM SMART THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME A NERD YOU BANANA LICKER WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE ZEPHYR I WOULD RATHER BE A NERD BUT THAT'S NOT HE POINT YOU LITERALLY KNOCKED A TEEN OUT AND STOLE THREE KIDS WHO ARE ONLY A YEAR OR TWO OLD!"

"Bro, calm down." Zephyr said. "So what, he called you a nerd? I think you're a nerd, too. You're, like, the nerdiest charmander ever-"

"STOP CALLING ME A NERD!" Blaze yelled. This was the closest Leaf had ever seen him be to Firefang. It wasn't fair to call him a nerd, but Blaze had gotten a little _too_ mad.

"Blaze, calm down, nobody thinks you're a nerd." Leaf said. "But you're right about Monferno committing those crimes. That's why we called the Police. And they should be here any minute, once Zephyr gives the signal."

Zephyr nodded.

"I said, _once Zephyr gives the signal._ "

Zephyr nodded again.

"ZEPHYR GIVE THE SIGNAL!" Leaf said.

"Okay, Okay, you don't have to yell, you never even asked once!" Zephyr took out an electronic disk and pressed a button on it. It started vibrating a little and flashing with colored light.

"That disk sends out a magnetic signal that all mechanical Pokemon will feel." Blaze said. "Magnezone should be here in a few minutes to arrest you."

" _A few minutes is all I need."_ Moferno said. " _If you little prancers are tough enough to beat me, I want to see that it's true."_

Leaf felt her fear melt away and be replaced by a rush of adrenaline. She was tired of being called weak, tired of being thrown away for apparent weakness. She had defeated the mightyenas, and she would defeat Monferno.

"Bring it on." Leaf said. "But good luck, I think you'll need it."

* * *

 **(A/N) Not much to say on the chapter, really.**

 **This story is close to 200 VIEWS!**

 **I was going to do a 100 views special, but by the chapter I was going to do it in, I was already nearing 200, so I'll just do a 200 views.**

 **Here are some ideas on what to do:**

 **Blaze's Backstory**

 **Zephyr's backstory**

 **Leaf's very early backstory (While she was in the lab)**

 **Tell me which one I should do in your review. If you have another idea (I am accepting other ideas) for what I should do, Private Message me on the idea. If you are an Anonymus Reader, I will read your idea in a review and moderate it, but that is for ANONYMUS IDEAS ONLY.**

 **Remember to vote on which short you would like! Also, should I make it a one-shot short story or make it part of the next author's note?**

 **Also, remember to review the chapter!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	8. Chapter 8

**(A/N) Really really really really . . . wait how many reallys was that?**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **Four.**

 **Really sorry about taking so long to update! I had really bad writer's block, and it didn't help that I don't like writing action chapters.**

 **Also, I was busy on writing Blazes Backstory, which is a one-shot I published a little while ago!**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Yes you spent all your time making me re-live that experience! Thanks a lot! I meant that sarcastically.**

 **Well I'm happy with how it turned out, so you're welcome.**

 **_BLAZE:_ I'm not!**

 **Anyways, go check Blaze's Backstory out if you're interested!**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Stop stalling and start the chapter already! It's been over two weeks since chapter 7!**

 **Hold on I have more stuff to say!**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **STALLER! (Crosses arms and glares, frowning)**

 **Shoutout to _Dranicus101_ for reviewing every chapter!**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **Wait what about _JayCloud7?_ He reviewed all the chapters as well.**

 **Okay also shoutout to _JayCloud7._ Also-**

 _ **LEAF/BLAZE/ZEPHYR:**_ **START THE CHAPTER!**

 **Alright, alright! CHAPTER 8!**

* * *

Leaf lunged right, narrowly missing a Flamethrower. How long had they been battling? A few minutes, probably. Maybe more. Monferno was strong, and their attacks hardly touched the fire monkey, since he kept dodging. When attacks did hit, Monferno showed little to no signs of being damaged.

Zephyr was having the best rays of luck. He often shot the monferno with water, but Monferno showed little signs of weakness whenever he was hit.

Blaze was doing his best, probably calculating the aerodynamics of Monferno's arm and the firepower and whatnot. While his attacks usually didn't do very much, he tried his best to participate in the battle.

Leaf, however, couldn't hit Monferno with a worthy attack at all. Being a Grass-Type, her attacks were weak against him. Her Razor Leaf seemed to bounce off of him, and he had broken free in a minute when she had trapped him with her vines.

"I FIGURED SOMETHING OUT!" Blaze suddenly shouted through the chaos of the battle. " We need an advantage, and the best way to use an advantage is with strategy! I know a good strategy! He strikes three times when he is using a punch, three to five times when using a kick, and once, forcefully, when using fire. If we can use that to our advantage-"

Of course, Blaze had said all of that very loudly, well in Monferno's earshot. Realizing his mistake, he cut himself off quickly.

Blaze was right, they did need some kind of strategy. The police were on their way, hopefully they would make it in time. The best thing to do was to stall, since it was unlikely that they would knock Monferno out first. In fact, if they didn't do something soon, Leaf had a feeling one of them _would_ get knocked out.

Blaze yelped, quickly step-siding away from Monferno as the outlaw aimed a fiery punch at him. He was jumping right now, closer to Leaf.

"We need to stall." she quickly whispered to him as he scrambled away from Monferno's fist.

Blaze face-clawed, nodding. "Should've thought of that! Good idea."

"DO NOT MESS WITH _THE JEFF!_ " Zephyr yelled, shooting water at Monferno.

"YOUR NAME IS NOT JEFF! IT'S ZEPHYR!" Leaf reminded him from many feet away.

"I know! I just like the name Jeff!" Zephyr yelled back.

"We need to save the pichus, too!" Blaze said quickly.

The pichus! Blaze was right, they needed too get them to some kind of hiding spot or safety before Monferno hurt them.

Leaf jumped out of the way as Monferno's foot raced back and forth at her. She avoided the kick the first two times, but on the third blow she wasn't fast enough and got hit in the gut.

" _Arceus_ . . ." she muttered dizzily, blinking hard and rubbing the spot she'd been kicked. " _Ow . . ."_

Leaf shook her head, blinking away spots as she spun her head around, looking for the pichus. She finally spotted them-theywere huddled together behind a boulder. Leaf quickly went over to them, making sure Monferno didn't see her.

"Save us? Scared!" Piku mumbled quietly, looking up at Leaf hopefully.

"I promise, we're going to beat Monferno and get you guys back home." Leaf told them.

"YA-" Poko started, but he was cut off as Leaf covered his mouth with her paw.

"Shhh . . . we have to be quiet! Stay as hidden as you can, alright? Don't let Monferno see you. Stay quiet. You got that?"

"Mmm-hmm! Mmm-hmm!" Poko agreed. He led his siblings farther behind the rock until Leaf could no longer spot them.

"Good job," she said quietly, slipping away to help with the battle. " We'll get you three back to Azure Town soon."

She got back just in time to see Zephyr's head hit the ground as he fell. Monferno had kicked him, quite hard, as Zephyr had been jumping into the air, and the squirtle had been thrown off guard.

"Zephyr, are you alright!?" Blaze asked, looking at Zephyr.

Zephyr mumbled something, but for all they knew it could be gibberish.

"Hah, finally." Monferno said, blowing smoke off his tail. "That piece of shellfish was getting on my nerves."

Leaf cringed and turned to where Zephyr had landed. He had a dazed look in his eyes, but it seemed that he was alright, just a little confused.

"It's been, like, six or seven minutes, the police'll be here soon." Leaf said, hoping she was correct.

Zephyr was slowly getting up, but he looked confused and dazed from the impact. Monferno had probably damaged him a lot with that blow.

With Zephyr's water gone, Monferno had more freedom to use attacks. He became a spinning tornado of orange-brown and fire, capable of burning anything that came in close contact with him.

Blaze was smart enough not to use a physical attack, but his flames were no match to Monferno. In fact, Monferno's whirlwind seemed to suck up the flames. He would have to use some physical move soon if he wanted to inflict more damage.

Leaf found herself dodging more flames as the tornado spat out embers. She shot sharp leaves at Monferno, but they burned the second they touched the fire.

"Oh my Arceus," Zephyr said from a little bit away. "MONFERNO IS DOING SPINJITZU!"

Leaf heard Zephyr singing the _Ninjago_ theme song from behind her.

Suddenly, there was a flash of orange as she felt a horrible, searing pain at her right shoulder blade. She saw that Monferno had hit it with some fire, and it was blackened where he had hit her.

"Ninja-Go, Ninja-GO!" Zephyr sang.

Leaf grimaced as her burn continued to flare painfully. The police-they had to be here soon-they were loosing- Leaf was burned, Blaze was struggling, and Zephyr was busy singing the _Ninjagoi_ theme song.

"C'mon, C'mon, until the weekend whip!"

"This is too easy." Monferno said, his whirlwind of flames fading as he stood on a rock. "I should just knock you all out now, I am getting BORED."

"NINJA-GO! NINJA-GO!"

"Arceus, stop singing that song! It's almost as annoying as when you were trying to defeat me.

Another fiery bolt of pain shot through Leaf's shoulder. She grunted as she took a few steps forwards, thinking she had to do something to end the battle.

Then Zephyr jumped from out of nowhere and completely drenched Monferno.

"I HIT _MY_ HEAD! NOW _YOU_ PAY!" Zephyr yelled in the tune of the _Ninjago_ theme song.

Monferno made a sound in his throat and stood there, soaking, as if he were paralyzed.

"And Zephyr saves the day," Leaf said, smiling at him.

"He didn't let me finish!" Zephyr said. "C'mon, C'mon, until the weekend whip! Jump up, kick back, whip around and SPIN!"

"That's almost as painful as getting soaked. Maybe more painful." Monferno mumbled, wincing.

"Speaking of painful, don't you want to do something about that burn, soon?" Blaze asked, pointing to the burnt part of Leaf's shoulder.

"Maybe later," Leaf said, wincing as another surge of pain flooded through her arm. "Is Monferno really defeated?"

"No . . .I can still . . . _win . . ._ "Monferno mumbled, starting to brush water off of his arms.

"INTURRUPTING MY NINJAGO THEME SONG KARMAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Zephyr yelled, springing at Monferno and hitting him.

"I'm scared right now." Leaf said, watching.

"Why?" Blaze asked. "Of Monferno?"

"No, I don't want to suffer the wrath of Zephyr." she said, shivering with a grin. "I will never interrupt him when he starts singing a theme song."

"The worst part is he got it stuck in my head." Blaze said.

"It's catchy!" Zephyr said, starting to hum the theme song again.

"Your burn is really bad. You should put some Rawst juice on it soon before it becomes serious." Blaze said.

"It's just a burn, I'll be fine. We should go tell the pichus it's okay now to come out." Leaf said dismissively.

Piku suddenly poked his head out from behind the boulder. "Safe?"

"Safe." Leaf told him.

"SAFE!" Piku said to his siblings excitedly. "Safe, safe, Pikachus, apples, toy!"

All three of them scampered from behind the boulder, looking relieved and happy.

"Yes!WE'REGONNALIVEHOORAYYYYY!" Poko said, his hyper personality returning. The tiny red cut on his chin had pretty much disappeared.

"Owie," Piku said, pointing to Leaf's burn.

"It's not that bad," Leaf said. "I'll be okay."

"Burns ow they hurt A LOT one dayI was with my friend Marty he is a Magby anyways we were playing and then he burned me but don't worry it was an accident anyways Pikachu said that I needed to put medicine on it or I'll faint and my ear would hurt a lot for the next week why my ear well my ear because that's where Marty burned me so then I said NOPE I HATE MEDICINE and Pikachu said OKAY BUT I WARNED YOU and then my ear was hurting a-lot-a-lot-a-lot so then Pikachu was like ARE YOU READY TO PUT SOME JUICE ON IT and I said OKAY FINE because my ear was hurting a LOT-LOT-LOT so he put some medicine on it and then it was ALL BETTER!" Poko said.

"Wow," Leaf said faintly, taken aback by Poko's long speech about burns needing medicine. "What was the medicine called?"

"Something like 'All Natural Burn Heal for Youth' or something."

"The fur on his left ear was singed off for a whole two weeks! He looked hideous!" Picha said, snickering.

"HEY PIKACHU SAID I LOOKED FINE YOU MEANIE! WHY ARE YOU SO RUDE!" Poko yelled, electricity crackling from his cheeks.

"Uh . . . maybe I _should_ put some Rawst juice on it, just in case." Leaf said.

"Rawst?" Zephyr asked from a little bit away, still punching Monferno to make sure he'd stay defeated.

"We-"

Punch!

"Don't-"

Punch!

"Have any-"

Punch! Punch!

"Rawsts-"

Punch!

"On us-"

PUNCH!

"Right now!"

Zephyr kept punching Monferno, slugging him after every word. "If . . . You . . . Want . . . I . . . Can . . . Buy . . . One . . . At . . . Kecleon's . . . After . . . The Police . . . Come."

Monferno groaned. "Stop!"

"NEVER!" (Punch!)

Leaf felt a wave of pain as her burn flared again. "Don't think I have two hours to wait . . ."

"BZZZT! BZZZT! MAGNEZONE POLICE, MAGNEZONE POLICE." somebody buzzed from below, coincidentally. "BZZT! POKEMON OUTLAW ORGINIZATION. BZZT!"

"Thank Arceus, the police are here!" Blaze said.

Three magnemite, followed by a magnezone, floated up to them.

"Bzzt! Hello. Bzzt! You contacted the Pokemon Outlaw Organization. Bzzt! Where is the outlaw. Bzzt!" buzzed one of the magnemites.

"Bzzt! Bzzt! It must be the blue one. Bzzt! He is injuring a defenseless Pokemon. Bzzt!" buzzed the second one.

"Get the squirtle! Bzt!"

"AAAH! NO! I'm innocent!"

"BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!" said Magnezone. "IT IS NOT THE SQUIRTLE. BZZT! IT IS THE MONFERNO, BZZZZT!"

"Bzzt! Arrest Monferno!" said the third magnemite.

"BZZZZZZZT!" All three of them hovered to Zephyr and Monferno. They surrounded Monferno and took him to Magnezone.

"BZZT! Outlaw captured!" said all three magnemites in sinc.

"BZZT! THANK YOU FOR FINDING AND DEFEATING MONFERNO." Officer Magnemite said. "BZZT! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED! BZZT!"

Blaze quickly told Officer Magnemite a short summary of what happened, leaving out the parts about Leaf's visions of the future, thankfully.

"BZZT. THANK YOU. THE POKEMON OUTLAW ORGINIZATION OWES YOU A REWARD. BZZT." Magnezone buzzed. "BZZT. BUT WHAT IS IN THE BOX? BZZT?"

"Oh, we didn't open it." Blaze said. "It's locked, you see. That's why Monferno stole the pichus, he wanted them to crawl through the keyhole and pull out the valuables."

"BZZT! I SEE THAT IT IS LOCKED. BZZT! BUT WHY IS THAT A PROBLEM, THE KEY IS HANGING OFF THE SIDE OF THE CHEST ON A RING, BZZT!"

"WHAAAAAT?" Monferno said.

"Let's open it! We're pirates now! Maybe we'll be rich!" Zephyr said.

Blaze took the key from the side of the chest, unhooked it from the metal ring on the right side of it, and jiggled it through the keyhole. A second later, it popped open.

"I bet it's full of gold!' Zephyr said. "Leaf, go look inside!"

Leaf peered inside the box. "Guys, it's . . . "

"Yeah?" Everyone asked excitedly.

"It's . . . it's empty."

"WHAAAAAAAT?" Monferno cried. "ALL THAT FOR NOTHING!?"

"Aww, no gold!" Zephyr said sadly.

"Bzzt. Not quite." one of the magnemites said. "You get a reward for capturing Monferno. Bzzt."

"Yes!" Zephyr said, throwing a fist into the air.

"What are you going to do with Monferno, anyways?" Leaf asked.

"BZZT. HE WILL BE QUESTIONED, INTERROGATED, AND MOST LIKELY IMPORISONED. BZZT. BZZT." Officer Magnezone buzzed.

"We should get home." Blaze said. It's a pretty long hike, and we need to get a Rawst or something for you."

"WE SHALL TRANSPORT YOU BACK TO AZURE TOWN. BZZT!" Magnezone said.

Leaf suddenly felt herself being lifted into the air. She was being levitated down the mountain.

After a few minutes of floating downwards, a path that led outward from a forest became clear.

"Azure Town!" Leaf said, pointing down at the forest and path. They had made it. Her first outlaw mission had been completed, and it had been successful, and she had rescued the pichus, and was going home.

* * *

Magnezone dropped them off in the Main Plaza, along with Piku, Poko, and Picha, and one of the magnemites.

"Bzzzt. Your reward." Magnemite said, dropping a small bag at Zephyr's feet. "Bzzt. Good day."

Magnemite hovered off after Officer Magnezone, Monferno, and the other two magnemites.

Leaf rubbed her shoulder. "Maybe . . . we can get that Rawst Berry now?"

"Yes, I almost forgot!" Blaze said. "Hold on, I have some change on me, I'll go to Kecleon's and buy it real quick!"

Blaze ran off to the Kecleon Market. Leaf wanted to go there, too, but they had promised Pikachu they would wait here for him with his siblings.

"PIKACHU!" Piku suddenly exclaimed. He ran over to his brother and hugged him.

"Piku, you're alright!" Pikachu said, looking relieved. "I was so worried about you-all of you!"

"PIKACHU it was so scary so Monferno put us in a sack and it was dark and then WHOOOOAAAAH we were tumbling around and then he let us out of the sack and he told Piku to go through the keyhole of a chest and pull out all of the valuables but we protected him and then Monferno scratched me ouchie it hurt a lot but I'm strong and then Leaf and Blaze and Zephyr all came and then they all had a battle and it was all BOOM and then it was like POW BAM WHAM BABABABAM and then there was fire and water and leaves and then Officer Magnemite came and arrested Monferno and then we found out that the key to the chest was on the side of it the whole time and then we opened it and it was empty and then Officer Magnezone made us float and fly down the mountain!" Poko stopped and took a huge gasp for breath. "And then we floated down the mountain and then we were on the path to Azure Town and now we're here!"

"Sounds like you had . . . quite the adventure!" Pikachu said, embracing his other brother and sister.

"Pikachu, we summoned a Light Screen!" Picha said. "And it was pretty good, too!"

"Spakwy!" Piku agreed.

"It was the BEST LIGHT SCREEN EVER!" exclaimed Poko, throwing his paws into the air in exaggeration.

"Pikachu . . . we go home?" Piku asked.

"Yeah, let's go home." Pikachu agreed.

"YAY!" all three of the pichus said, running to the next Plaza.

Pikachu turned to Leaf and Zephyr. "Thanks so much for saving my little brothers and sister. I owe you more, but this is all I've got on me right now." he handed Leaf a stack of Poke.

"You don't need to pay us," Leaf said. "We would've saved them anyways."

"Please, take it. I'll feel guilty if I don't give you something."

Zephyr took the Poke. "Okay!"

"Bye, and thank you, again." Pikachu said, turning to catch his siblings, who had scampered away.

"I'm back, I've got a Rawst!" Blaze said, coming back to Leaf's side a second later.

"Good," Leaf said, feeling as if her burn couldn't get any more painful. She took the Rawst and gingerly squeezed the yellow-green juice all over her right shoulder. The pain immediately stopped as her burn was healed.

"That feels so much better. Thanks, Blaze." Leaf said. Not knowing what to do with the rest of the berry, she put it in her mouth. It had looked decent, and she didn't want to waste it. It was probably tasty anywa-

"Uughck!" she cried, spitting the berry out at once. "Yuck, that tastes TERRIBLE! Now I see why you don't eat them!"

"They are pretty disgusting." Blaze agreed. "I made the same mistake. They're horrible, aren't they?"

"Very." Leaf said, checking her shoulder. She was surprised to see that the black had faded into her regular turquoise already.

"Woah, we got, like, Three Hundred Poke for catching Monferno!" Zephyr said, opening the little bag Magnemite had given him. "Plus Fifty from Pikachu! Three Hundred Fifty Poke!"

Blaze took the bag away from the squirtle and began stacking the money into three separate piles. He took only a minute dividing the coins. After all three stacks were even, he gave one to Leaf and another to Zephyr.

"What's this for?" Leaf asked, inspecting the pile of coins.

"It's your share of our earnings." Zephyr said. "Obviously."

"I get . . . a share?"

"Of course, you were part of the exploration!" Blaze said.

"Thanks," Leaf said happily.

 _At first-at first I wasn't sure whether I was doing the right thing joining Team Crystal, but I think I made a good choice._

 _I'm having fun._

 _I'm doing some good._

 _I'm even making a profit._

 _And . . . and I have friends._

* * *

 **(A/N) So I was wondering what to put in the box. At first I actually did think about putting gold and stuff in it, but then the idea of nothing being in it came to me, and I couldn't resist.**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **(Gasps) So it's YOUR fault we're not rich!**

 **You don't need to be rich after what happens in the next chapter.**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **OH MY ARCEUS I'M GOING TO DIE!?**

 **No, but the plot starts taking shape.**

 ** _ZEPHYR:_ (Sighs in relief) Oh good I thought I was gonna die from karma.**

 **. . . Why is that?**

 ** _ZEPHYR:_ (Glances nervously at Blaze) Ehehehe . . . no reason . . .**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Nothing,** **Nothing! (Laughs nervously)**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **(Eyes widen) Wait are you talking about-**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **Yes.**

 _ **LEAF:**_ **(guilty smile) If Karma doesn't kill you, Blaze will.**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **WHAT DID YOU DO!?**

 **The only way to find out is to Review!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	9. Chapter 9

**(A/N) Well, I got this one out faster than the last chapter!**

 **Nice long chapter here. The longest chapter so far, too.**

 ** _ZEPHYR:_ "Wait, wait! You said you would reveal the prank I played on Blaze last chapter, remember!?"**

 **Oh yes, that.**

 ** _ZEPHYR:_ "I got it ON VIDEO!"**

 **Roll the video, then!**

 _ **BLAZE: "**_ **How come _I'm_ the one always being tortured? Why don't you torture Leaf or Zephyr sometime?"**

 **Because Leaf is the main character and . . . actually I _should_ consider torturing Zephyr, but it's just so much easier to torture you!**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **Groans and covers head with claws. "Leaf please defend me."**

 _ **LEAF: "**_ **NO! I must see the prank video again!"**

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **"Wait, you've seen the video already?"**

 _ **LEAF: "**_ **Sixteen times, yes."**

* * *

 **Blaze is sitting on a rock reading a book when he suddenly hears Zephyr screaming for help from somewhere.** _**Blaze jumps up and steps on a hole covered in a tarp that looks like grass. The tarp falls away and Blaze falls into the hole, which is filled with green goo. Blaze struggles out of the goo-pit when suddenly tacos begin to rain from the sky. Blaze is covered in**_ ** _salsa, beans, and lettuce. Blaze brushes the taco shells off of him and runs to where Zephyr is screaming. Blaze trips on a tripwire while running and trips, getting covered in mud that was just so conveniently in front of the tripwire. Blaze pulls himself up and a wig with melted cheese in the inside falls onto his head. Now Blaze has a blonde wig on his head and melted nacho cheese running down his face._**

 ** _"I KNOW THIS IS A PRANK, ZEPHYR!" Blaze suddenly yells, storming back to his rock._**

 ** _Suddenly something falls down and lands in Blaze's claws. It's a pink purse! Blaze roars angrily and storms to the south plaza, the plaza closest to his reading rock. A young lilipup darts from out of nowhere from out of nowhere with his mother._**

 ** _"Look mommy a dirty charmander with cheese on his face with blonde hair and a pink purse!" The kid cries happily._**

 ** _Blaze quickly runs away, but everyone in town has seen him covered in green slime, tacos, mud, cheese, and wearing a blonde wig and carrying a purse._**

 ** _The video ends._**

* * *

 _ **BLAZE:**_ **"I can't believe it. ZEPHYR COME HERE!" Starts chasing Zephyr.**

 **Alright, chapter nine start!**

 **I don't have anything against Britian or Libraries.**

* * *

For the next two weeks, Leaf became a true explorer. Every day she went into a new dungeon, and they were almost always victorious. By the second week, Leaf was going on actual explorations into unknown dungeons. Some were tight, cramped passages crackling with static and electric waves (Zephyr didn't like that), while some were large chasms filled with running streams of water (Blaze did not like that, especially when Zephyr pushed him into one of the pools of water, nearly soaking the flame on Blaze's tail), and one was even hot and smoky and filled with unnatural heat and steam (Leaf didn't like that one, It reminded her of the time she had gotten trapped in the pizza oven at Pizza Hut [Long story]).

Leaf continued to have strange dreams that followed the mysterious figure, but she could never figure out what kind of Pokemon the figure was. She eventually ignored the dreams. This wasn't a hard habit to quit, since every time she had had one, she was awakened by uncomfortable shaking from Zephyr, who claimed she had been 'Thrashing like an insane maniac who was very much super crazy'.

One thing she chose _not_ to ignore was her odd visions. She continued to have them, and after every vision she felt weak and dizzier than she had felt before it. The thing that really creeped her out was that Blaze had claimed her eyes had turned silver during one of her 'daydreams'. While a few of her visions came true shortly after Leaf experienced them, some of them never happened.

Leaf woke up gasping one morning from a nightmare. Her trainer had captured her, Blaze, and Zephyr, and he was yelling at them, making them fight each other, and throwing Poke-Balls that smelled like toast that were weirdly sticky at her face.

Leaf blinked, glad that she wasn't being pelted with toast-Poke-Balls, and got hit in the nose with a square of warm buttered bread.

"Arceus what-" Leaf said, wiping butter off her face. She yelped when she saw that her paw was covered in red, sticky gel as well as butter. "WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!" She cried, staring at the red stuff on her paw. "WHY IS MY FACE COVERED IN BLOOD?!"

Leaf heard a laugh from behind her and turned to see Zephyr. His soft hay bed was filled with stacks of buttered, jellied, and sugared toast.

"You're face isn't covered in blood," Zephyr said. "Just butter, grape jelly, cinnamon, cream, I think marmalade, and also strawberry jam."

Leaf turned to the nearest mirror at once and saw that her face was coated in orange, red, and purplish splats of jelly, and sprinkled with thick yellowy-white cream, brown grains of sugar and cinnamon, and wads of unmelted butter. In other words, she looked like a Pokemon breakfast condiments snow cone.

"Were you throwing toast at me again?!" Leaf asked, wiping more stuff off of her face.

Zephyr nodded. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"IT IS NOT MY BIRTHDAY!" Leaf said angrily, wiping marmalade on his hay bed. "Please stop chucking toast at my face, Zephyr! Just . . . just don't do that! It's really annoying!"

The squirtle shrugged and threw a piece of bread covered in blueberry jam at her.

Leaf growled in frustration and used both paws to wipe off more stuff. She then drew her paws all over Zephyr's bed to get the jam and cream off of them.

"You're getting my bed all sticky!" Zephyr complained.

"A, you were the one throwing toast with sticky stuff on them at me, and B, you're bed is already sticky from all the sticky falling-apart toast stacked onto it." Leaf told him, wiping a wad of butter onto the yellow hay. "Plus you owe me more, I'm going to smell like jam and butter all day!"

Zephyr pulled his stacks of toast closer to him and embraced them. "Don't listen to her, you're still special to me," He whispered, stroking the goopy piles of bread.

Leaf sighed. _Nobody said being with him came without a cost._ She whirled around and caught Zephyr holding a cinnamon toast in his hands, a second before aiming it at her bulb.

"AHA!" Leaf said triumphantly. "Now you can't throw bread at me anymore! I caught you in the act!"

"Curse you Abraham Lincoln for creating the Toast Law!" Zephyr cursed, putting down his bread. "Who do you want me to throw bread at, now?"

"What about Blaze?" Leaf asked, pointing to the charmander, who was at her right. Blaze was curled up into a scaly orange ball, his tail hugged close to his chest, the precious flame dancing just above his rib cage. He twitched at his name, but otherwise showed no signs of getting up.

"BRO, PREPARE TO BE TOAST-IFIED!" Zephyr yelled. He took about five pieces of toast and stacked them into the crook of his arm. Then he pulled each out, one by one, and threw them at Blaze. Leaf winced as the toasts hit the back of his head and back. Red, white, blue, oily, and peanut-butter-colored stains splatted onto his scales after every strike.

"TOOOOOOOOAAAAAST!" Zephyr screamed, thrusting all of his toasts at Blaze so that they rained down on him in a shower of sticky bread.

Blaze yelped and got up, toast falling off of the sides of his head. "What did Zephyr do this time?" Blaze asked sleepily, his head swinging around.

"Throwing toast again." Leaf said.

"Oh. You can have first dibs on the bathroom, then," Blaze murmured, half-asleep. He started putting his head back down.

"He got you too."

"WHAT!?" Blaze's head snapped back up as he felt his face for signs of jam. "Zephyr!"

Zephyr snickered. "The toast war has begun."

"I'm taking away half of your earnings next time!" Hissed Blaze, scooping a blobby goop of jams off his head and throwing them at Zephyr. "And you get last dibs on the bathroom today!"

"Aww _,_ why?" Zephyr complained.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT COVERED IN JELLY AND CREAM AND BUTTER!" Leaf and Blaze yelled at the same time.

Zephyr crossed his arms and turned away from them, taking stuff out of the explorer bag. "There was peanut butter in there, too, you know." He added bitterly.

Blaze turned to Leaf. "Go take the bathroom. No offense, but you look like a clown with bits of toast stuck to its face."

"None taken, and that's what I assumed." Leaf said. "At least you only look like you got shot by a water gun loaded with jams instead of water."

Blaze grinned. The two of them were used to Zephyr's annoying pranks by now, so it wasn't a very big deal. Still, Leaf objected against his 'jokes'. She didn't want to end up spray painted purple one morning.

* * *

After washing up (Which took a half hour longer thanks to Zephyr's toast war), the team went to the main plaza as usual to grab a job to do. Leaf was shocked to see a huge crowd near the fountain. She crept closer and saw several magnemites and Officer Magnezone in the crowd, hovering near the fountain.

"What are the police doing here?" Leaf asked herself. She pushed through the crowd a little and saw a post with a huge WANTED poster hanging on it. Next to the post were two stretchers. An emboar lay in one of the stretchers. There was a croconaw in the other one.

"What's going on?" Blaze asked the Pokemon closest to them, Watchog.

"Hrrrrrrrmn?" Watchog asked, glancing down at them. "Oh, I don't know, I assume an outlaw injured these two Pokemon. I just got here, for Scott's sake!" Watchog had a thick british accent that had a nosy tint to it. "The nerve of some hooligan youngsters these days, blimey!"

"Did he just call us hooligans?" Leaf asked Blaze and Zephyr, out of Watchog's earshot.

But of course, she'd forgotten that watchogs had very keen hearing.

"Blimey, these _kids_ have absolutely _no_ manners these days!" Watchog said in his grindingly annoying snoopy, british accent. "How ill-mannered of you, hmm!"

"I-we have . . . manners . . ." Leaf stammered, but Watchog was already stepping away, chattering about rudeness and ill manners and all that.

"Ill-mannered! I don't even know what that means!" Zephyr said, sounding pleased for some reason. "It must be some british compliment. Maybe it means cool. Thanks, you're, er, a hooligan, too! I think you're very ill-mannered, uh, as well!"

Blaze face-clawed. "You just insulted him. He was insulting us, not complimenting us."

"I TAKE IT BACK!" Zephyr called at once, looking alarmed. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

Leaf went over to Officer Magnezone. "Excuse me, Officer Magnezone . . . what's going on?"

"BZZT!" Magnezone said. "WE HAVE RECENTLY RECEIVED A NOTICE ABOUT A NEW, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS OUTLAW. SHE GOES BY THE NAME OF ABSOL AND HAS BEEN ESTIMATED TO BE AN S-CLASS OUTLAW."

Leaf's eyes drifted over to the wanted poster. There was an indigo Pokemon with thick, clean silvery-white fur and a long, crescent-like horn on the top of her head.

 _Wow, that's a dangerous S-Class criminal?_ Leaf thought, staring at the wanted poster in awe. Absol looked frightening and scary, a dangerous glint in her blood-red, crimson eyes.

The picture of Absol was an illustration, of course, but Leaf could easily believe that this was how the menacing outlaw appeared. Absol's face was set into a malicious snarl, and her eyes seemed to glare at Leaf.

Leaf also noticed two other, smaller illustrations on the paper. One was a pinkish sphere, and the other was a black sphere. Words were scribbled around the two spheres, listing confusing information Leaf didn't understand. She caught _legend_ and _orbs_ and other phrases near the two spheres.

 ** _REWARD REWARD REWARD_** was written in huge, bold, noticeable letters in the middle of the poster, right below where **_ABSOL_** was written, in bold letters as well. Below it was **_S-CLASS OUTLAW! DANGEROUS!_** , written clearly in smaller bold font.

Leaf glanced at the amour listed for the rewards and felt her eyes widen. Absol must be a huge threat if the Pokemon Outlaw Organization was willing to pay so much.

"What did Absol do?" Leaf asked. She glanced at the emboar and croconaw. "What happened to them?"

Magneton was about to answer when a chansey from the Pokemon Center ran over to him. Chansey took one look at the two stretchered Pokemon and rushed them off to the Pokemon Center, otherwise known as the Pokemon Hospital of Azure Town.

"Bzzt! You were curious about the wanted outlaw Absol?" A magnetite asked, hovering up to her.

"Yes, I'm part of an exploration team, and I was just wondering what makes Absol so dangerous. And what she did to these two Pokemon." Leaf said. She glanced at the two Pokemon lying on the stretchers as they were pushed to the large white-and-red building, worry passing through her.

"Bzzt! Absol knocked these two Pokemon out. Bzzt!" Magnemite said.

"But what did she do to be such an outlaw?" Asked a snobby voice. Watchog pushed his way through the crowd.

Leaf saw Blaze and Zephyr wandering through the crowd as well, probably looking for her. Blaze spotted her and ran over.

"What's going on?" Blaze whispered to her.

"Magnemite is explaining," Leaf explained quietly. "He's going to tell us what happened."

"Why are we whispering?" Zephyr suddenly asked in a loud whisper.

"Oi, what did this outlaw do!?" Watchog asked again, this time louder than his first order.

The crowd started to look interested.

"What _did_ Absol do, Magnemite?" Blaze asked, much politer than Watchog.

"Bzzt! Many of you are aware of the rise of aggression in Pokemon lately. Bzzt!" Magnemite said. There were several nods of agreement. "Well, we discovered a Life Orb was stolen, causing a tilt in balance similar to the tilt in Mystery Dungeons."

There were many gasps at this statement, and Leaf caught a few panicked looks.

"A Life Orb?" Blaze asked. Leaf turned and was surprised to see that he looked paler than usual. "Are you sure? An actual Life Orb?" blaze sounded alarmed, even worried.

"Bzzt! Yes!" Magnemite said, tilting himself up and down, as if he were nodding.

"Why are you so nervous, bro?" Zephyr asked.

"Don't you know what the Life Orbs are?" Blaze asked. Worry was definitely creeping into his voice now.

"Uh, no." Said Leaf.

"Nope." Zephyr said.

"We do not have the Life Orb in our possession, but we received news from a witness that someone was seen carrying a bright orb one night during a storm. The witness did not know what kind of Pokemon it was. Bzzt!" Magnemite continued.

"Don't you know anything about history?" Blaze asked, looking a bit surprised.

"Hey, we met, like, two weeks ago." Leaf pointed out. "I haven't had time to go on _._

"I am Zephyr, and I do not care about history." Zephyr said, which was what Leaf had been expecting. "You should have known that, Blaze. How can we be best friends if you don't know I don't care about history?"

"Bzzt! We got a distress call from all the way in Thunder Peaks from a group of explorers very early this morning. Bzzt!" Magnemite said, continuing with his story. "When the Pokemon Outlaw Organization arrived, we found two Pokemon unconscious around the tips of Thunder Peaks. Bzzt! One of them was horribly injured but still conscious-a Grotle. Bzzt! He told us what happened."

Leaf's ears perked up. "What happened? Had Absol done something?"

 _Why am I asking that right before Magnemite is about to tell us?_ Leaf tapped her forehead a few times.

"Bzzt! He stated that he had seen Absol. Bzzt. He saw that Absol was taking something. He yelled at her a bit, apparently. Bzzt! Absol then attacked them. Bzzt! Grotle's partners fainted, but we got to them just in time before Grotle passed out. Bzzt! Grotle said that Absol held a black orb. Bzzt!"

"Sure it was the Dark Orb?" A voice in the crowd asked.

"Bzzt. Nine out of ten. Bzzt!"

Blaze's face paled even more. "This is bad, this is bad, this is really really-"

"Stop fretting and tell us _why_ it's so bad!" Leaf suggested.

"If Absol is stealing Life Orbs, the whole world . . . it'll fall into paralysis if Absol steals all of the Life Orbs!" Blaze exclaimed. "The planet—it'll slowly freeze and become a colorless, lifeless, frozen world! And the planet will be fully paralyzed soon if somebody doesn't stop Absol!"

Suddenly Magnemite turned to Magneton, who was speaking with a nurse from the Pokemon Center. She felt a twang of sympathy for the croconaw and emboar as she watched them disappear into the Pokemon Center at last.

Zephyr frowned. "Aw, really? Bro, it's the _weekend!_ Can Absol maybe move paralyzing the entire Earth to _next_ week?"

Leaf slapped him firmly with one of her vines. "This is not the time to be joking around. This is serious buisiness."

"Not as serious as my toast wars!" Zephyr said.

"It's quite possibility the END of the WORLD!" Blaze said.

"THE WOOOOOOOOOORRRLD!" Somebody screamed from the middle of the tense crowd. "THE WOOOOORRRLLLLD! WE ARE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"

The crowd began to mutter, whisper, gasp, and panic in general. Leaf punched Blaze on the arm with her vines.

"Don't go around screaming stuff like that." She suggested through gritted teeth.

"So the world is going to freeze?" Zephyr asked, as if he was just getting it now.

". . . Not quite . . ."

 _Huh?_ Leaf's head swung towards the voice. _Who was that? What did he mean by_ not quite _?_ _Were the police wrong about something?_

 _"_ There is—a way to reverse the effects . . . of the paralysis . . ." Leaf finally spotted the owner of the weezy voice. It was a torkoal, an elderly one by the looks of it. His amber skin wasn't nearly as bright and shiny as Blaze's gleaming orange scales, and it was wrinkled from age. Smoke belched out of Torkoal's grayish shell, which emitted a faint red glow through the cracks in it.

There is, hrrrmmmm?" Asked a voice Leaf recognized as Watchog's. "Hrrrmmm, how do you know this, _whippersnapper_? Or is it just a pile of rubbish, hmm?"

"'Tis not a pile of rubbish, snippasnappeh!" Torkoal said, puffs of steam blowing out of the elderly Pokemon's nose. "Respect your manners! Youngsters these days, so full of 'emselves!"

Watchog's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. The lookout Pokemon crossed his arms, trying to look dignified, and stormed away, muttering under his breath.

"Can the paralysis really be stopped?" Somebody in the crowd asked curiously.

"Yes, yes . . ." Torkoal said. "Anyone interested can come to my cottage in Elderly Springs to hear about the legend of the Life Orbs, I have a copy of _The Pokemon Legends_ there. I am making tea, too. I hope whoever decides to show up enjoys a nice cup of Urban Herbal Blend, I have the kettle on the stove already!"

The old Pokemon coughed, grayish steam puffing out of his shell, nose, and mouth. "I hope I get some vis'ters!" He weezed, turning to the East Plaza entrance and sauntering away. "An' I hope ye'r fond of tea!"

"What should we do now?" Zephyr asked. " We've got a whole day ahead of us! I was thinking we go and grab a churro-"

"Let's go to Elderly Springs." Leaf blurted.

"Elderly Springs?" Blaze asked, looking slightly confused. "Why?"

"I dunno, I-I wanna hear the story of the Life Orbs, I guess. And learn how to stop the Paralysis." Leaf had a weird feeling that she had to know about the origins of the Life Orbs.

"Um, okay," Blaze said. "I guess that wouldn't hurt, actually."

"He said something about tea, right?" Zephyr asked, tapping his head. "Yeah, he did. Urban Herbal Blend. Hmm, I like Fresh Sea Breeze Natural Mix more, but I guess Urban Herbal Blend will have to do. Alright, I'm coming, too!"

"Can we stop by the library first?" Blaze asked, looking down at his feet. "I . . . I need to return something."

Zephyr started giggling. "A—a book?"

"No," Blaze said, looking down in embarrassment. "A scroll."

Zephyr collapsed into a fit of laughter at this statement. "Wha—what is—a—a scroll . . . wha—?" The squirtle held his chest, laughing.

Blaze covered his head in shame at this.

"Zephyr, stop laughing at Blaze's nerdiness!" Leaf said, hitting the squirtle lightly with her vine.

"Thanks, Leaf." Blaze said, then he registered the rest of her words. "Hey!"

Zephyr pulled himself up reluctantly.

"We can get a copy of _The Pokemon Legends_ at the library, too." Blaze pointed out. "Books-and scrolls-aren't so useless, Zephyr."

Zephyr sighed. "Fine. But I still say we go grab a nice churro!"

* * *

After going to the library and avoiding getting kicked out (Zephyr would not stop asking loudly why there was a place that let you rent USELESS BOOKS), they walked out of the large building with a scroll in Blaze's claws. While the librarian didn't have an original book, there was a copy on a scroll she let them borrow for the day.

Zephyr would not stop bugging the librarian about what the point of 'reading' was, and he ended up getting banned for the week for screaming and being disrespectful. Zephyr stormed out of there yelling that the library was useless, anyways.

They were walking along the path to Elderly Springs when Blaze stumbled on a tree root and dropped the scroll. The delicate roll of paper rolled along the ground, bumping against a tree near Leaf.

"I've got it," Leaf said, bending over to pick up the scroll. As her paw lifted the paper into the air, she started feeling dizzy, the forest blurring out of view.

 _It's happening again . . . another vision ._ . . Leaf thought dully.

* * *

 _"_ _This isn't wise!" Said a blue deer-like Pokemon. She paced worriedly around the room. "The pedestal is a much better-"_

 _"_ _We must do this! The pedestal is too risky!" The white dragon hissed. "We must protect the orbs!"_

 _"_ _Take the orbs to a hiding spot. We must guard them, make sure they are not stolen!" A large, white and gold figure said. Immedieatly all of the figures took a glowing object and left the room._

 _"_ _The pedestal-" The blue deer started._

 _"_ _We shall guard the orbs alone! Guard yours with the pedestal if you wish!" The white figure boomed back._

 _"_ _I shall! But one day we shall regret not using the pedestal!" The blue deer disappeared with her object._

* * *

"Leaf! LEAF!"

". . . Wha?"

Leaf's vision cleared. She shook her head in surprise.

"You zoned out for a second-and your eyes turned silver again." Blaze said. "Did you . . . um . . . have another vision?"

Leaf nodded and realized she was still holding the scroll in her paws. She gave it to Blaze.

"We can worry about it later. Let's go before the tea gets cold." She said, half joking.

"I'm good with that plan!" Zephyr said. "Let's go!"

 _What are these visions I keep having?_

 _What do they mean?_

 _And . . . why do_ I _keep having them?_

* * *

 **(A/N) Toast wars.**

 **Remember to review!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	10. Chapter 10

**(A/N) Well, another chapter finally gets out.**

 **Unfortunately, this chapter isn't going to have the Legend of the Life Orbs. That's next chapter.**

 _ **ALL:**_ **"Awwwwwwwwwww!"**

 **However, this chapter does have a surprise!**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **"YAAAAAAAAAAY!"**

 **Um . . . You won't like the surprise, Zephyr. It's going to reveal a really big secret you've been keeping from Leaf and Blaze.**

 _ **ZEPHYR:**_ **" . . . Oh" :(**

 **On that note, though, this chapter is going to have a mention of a death. Nothing dark, not anywhere close to the level of Blaze's Backstory, but it might be a little sad if you're a big fan of Zephyr. Just letting you know.**

 **Anyways, I felt like I wasn't giving enough credit to Zephyr, who I think is a really great character. But it just felt like he didn't have any backstory. So big stuff being revealed today!**

 ** _DRANICUS101:_ Absol can sense disaster . . . Oh Arceus, forgot that when I was writing this whole thing. Which is a big deal, considering what's gonna happen to her. Thanks for bringing that up, now I've gotta go change a bunch of ****plot line.**

 **And yes, things are going okay for Leaf. FOR NOW! (Touches fingertips mischievously with an evil grin) BAD STUFF WILL COME SOON ENOUGH!**

 _ **LEAF: "**_ **Uhhhhhh what was that?"**

 **. . . . Nothing, nothing! Hehehe . . .**

 _ **JAEGOTHIS7:**_ **YAY!**

 _ **GUEST:**_ **Erm . . . I'm not covered in toast, so . . .**

 **And I can do another thing with Zephyr's bad pronunciation, but I'd rather do something else, like the gang texting each other or Truth or Dare or something like that.**

 **Okay I've delayed long enough!**

* * *

Elderly Springs was a quiet grasslands area with a steaming lake in the middle and several others, some steaming more than others. A few older Pokemon were in the hot springs, enjoying the peacefully quiet retirement the hot spring offered.

Leaf realized that the peaceful quiet wasn't going to last much longer as Zephyr saw the nearest spring with an excited expression.

"CANNONBAAAAAAAALLLLLL!" Zephyr shouted, cannonballing into one of the hot springs at once, splashing hot water everywhere. The squirtle resurfaced and started splashing around in a noisy way, annoying the Pokemon nearby him.

"Zephyr, get out of there!" Leaf said, going over to retrieve him.

"Hot hot hot!" Zephyr said, completely ignoring her. "Like really really hot! Pretty much burning hot! Okay this is kind of too much hot like lava hot! HOT OH MY ARCEUS WHY IS THIS WATER SO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT?!"

"You're in the extra extra hot pool." Blaze said, gesturing to a small sign near the spring. "Each typing lives near the pool most suitable for their average body temperature. You are standing in the Fire-Type pool."

Leaf hadn't noticed it, but now she saw that most of the Pokemon in the pool were indeed Fire-Types. There was even a bright orange sign labeled _DANGER: FIRE-TYPE POOL! VERY HOT TEMPERATURE!_

"Get out, sonny!" A flareon hissed. "Respect yer elders!"

Zephyr clambered out, panting and rubbing his arms. "Owwww, that was really a bit too warm for me."

"Only Fire-Types would be comfortable in this temperature of water," Blaze said, putting a claw in the water experimentally.

A mischievous glint sparked in Zephyr's eye. "Fire-Types, you say?"

Blaze looked up, his eyes widening. "Uh, well, _some-_ I'm not one of those who would enjoy-AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A cloud of bubbles exploded from the pool as Zephyr shoved Blaze in. Leaf's heart skipped a beat as the Lizard Pokemon's head submerged, and then his torso. The teensiest tip of an orange tail with a flame at the end was sticking out of the water when the splash calmed down.

"ZEPHYR!" Leaf cried, running to the spring. "What's up with you almost killing Blaze so much? You can't be part of the team if you keep pushing Blaze into water!"

"Why is that bad?" Zephyr asked, sounding generally confused. "How would he die?"

"HE WILL DIE IF THE FLAME ON HIS TAIL GOES OUT!" Leaf shouted angrily. Blaze's tail almost seemed to be sinking.

"He will . . .?" Zephyr looked as if somebody had told him breathing wasn't good for you.

The top of Blaze's head finally resurfaced. Leaf sucked in a breath of alarm as his tail dipped even more. Steam hissed away from the water as the flame brushed the water. Blaze yelped and stuck his tail straight up so that the flame wasn't as close to the water.

"That flame on his tail-it's his lifeline. If it goes out, he'll die. That's why charmanders don't get into water too much, and why it isn't good to put them into water." Leaf said in a rushed, hurried way. She watched as Blaze's head rose slowly, his tail also raising.

"So . . . if the fire on his tail is out . . . Blaze is out?" Zephyr asked, blinking.

"YES!" Leaf stretched her paw out to Blaze, but he was too far away to reach, and his arms weren't out of the water yet.

Blaze's head was fully out of the water now, though. He looked tired and shell-shocked, but at least he was okay.

"Like . . . his life. It would end." Guilt was snaking into Zephyr's voice. "He . . . he would be _gone_."

"My tail," Blaze gasped, trying to turn his head to see his tail. "I-is it-"

"You're okay," Leaf told him. Relieved, Blaze started climbing out. Leaf kept her paw out for him and he latched onto it as she dragged him out of the hot water.

Zephyr looked at Blaze as if everything was finally clear to him. "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't do that, Zephyr!" Blaze scolded, swatting at the squirtle. "I seriously do not like water!"

"Because your tail might touch it and go out . . ." Zephyr muttered in understanding. "That's why you never go swimming with us!"

Leaf and Blaze exchanged a glance. "Yes, exactly." Blaze agreed. "It only took you twenty times to get it."

"Twenty-six," Zephyr said. "Sorry about that, bro."

"Don't do it again."

"Aren'tchya gonna say it's okay?"

" _It's okay,"_ Blaze muttered. "But don't do it again."

"Okay."

The three of them walked in awkward silence for a while. Zephyr looked extremely guilty.

"I'm really sorry." Zephyr said again. "I-I didn't get it, Blaze. If I had known . . . I thought you were just being boring . . . and-I'm really sorry, Blaze . . ."

Blaze nodded. "It's okay, Zephyr. You didn't get it."

Leaf stopped in her tracks. "Hold on a sec. The charmander flame lifeline is one of the first things we learn when we're in the lab. Why didn't you . . ."

Blaze stopped to look at Zephyr as well. "She's right. We got that lesson at a young age, so you should remember it."

Zephyr looked down, hesitating. "I . . . I wasn't there."

Leaf blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I wasn't in the lab by then. I got there . . . later." Zephyr was choosing his words slowly, something they'd never seen him do.

"Zephyr, what are you talking about? We were all born in the lab."

"I . . . I wasn't born in the lab. I . . . I was born in-in the wild." Zephyr choked out, scowling at his feet.

 _What?_ Leaf thought in confusion. _What does he mean? How . . .?_

"You can tell us if you want, but you don't have to." Blaze said, looking at the squirtle in a sympathetic way.

"I-I should tell you guys. We need to be a team."

Leaf could tell how uncomfortable the situation was to him, though. She was curious on how he had been born in the wild, but if it meant upsetting Zephyr, she could leave it.

"I'm a few months younger than you guys, for starters. I was given to my trainer early because they had to squirtles old enough. Also . . ." Zephyr's unsteady voice wavered as he glanced at Blaze. "I lied to you. My trainer released me two weeks before I met you, not the morning I met you, like I told you. I'm sorry, but I didn't want you mooning over me."

"I-Zephyr, you didn't have to hide that from me." Blaze said softly.

Zephyr looked away quickly. "Well I did. Anyways, I was born in the wild. We lived by this big river that had a lot of berry trees nearby, and occasionally my dad would bring home a fish once in a while. I didn't get to know my mom very well because she disappeared one night when I was still really young. Some time after that my dad said we had to go on the run or something like that. So we were always on the move, following the river. Sometimes we stopped for a few days, but no longer than that. I don't know why he made me move around so much. I used to think he was looking for my mother, but it was most likely because of the hunters."

"Hunters?" Leaf interjected. "What hunters?"

"I was maybe a year old when my dad said we were going to have a long break." Zephyr continued. "It was getting dark, so I think I was sleeping when he started shouting. Then he picked me up and he started running really really fast. Something was shooting at us from the behind, and two someones were chasing us. My dad kept running for a long time, but then a third someone stood in front of him with something pointed at us. The other two behind us caught up, and we were cornered.

It turned out the someones were humans. There were three, all men, one wearing dark blue and the others wearing black. The dark blue one-I think he was the leader-he says to the other guys, 'We've found ourselves a starter, boys! There's a lab nearby that gives out Kanto starters, and they'll probably pay some good pounds for this little guy!'

And one of the ones in the back-a guy wearing black, he says, 'There's a good blastoise here, too. Should I get him as well, boss?'

'No, no, boys. The squirtle's already a good bargain. Kill off the blastoise or he'll run after us and try to take the squirtle back. Best to get rid of 'im before he gets away with our merchandise' the guy in dark blue says. And then he points the thing he's holding at my dad, and my dad lets go of me. My dad yells at me to run.

The thing the guy in blue is holding suddenly shoots something at my dad, and theres a big BOOOOOOOOOM! And then I look at my dad, and he's . . . he's . . ."

Zephyr didn't have to finish his sentence. Leaf knew exactly what had happened when Zephyr's father had gotten shot. Zephyr looked down again, brushing his eyes briefly.

"T-the three humans t-took me," Zephyr said after a moment, his voice cracking. "I-I was put in a cage for a little while, and then the three humans took me to t-the lab. I lived there ever s-since."

Dreadfully tense silence. Zephyr kept his head low, looking like he was about to cry.

"I'm sorry about all that, Zephyr." Leaf finally said to him softly, putting a paw on his shoulder. "That must have been hard for you. You must have been so brave and strong." Leaf hesitated a moment. "I bet your dad would have been really proud of you."

Zephyr lifted his head to blink at her, his chocolate brown eyes sad and watery. The poor squirtle-Leaf had always assumed he was slightly younger than them, but she had never known how much he'd been through. New respect for Zephyr had been built inside of her.

"Let's go hear some legends from an old guy and drink Urban Herbal Blend tea, okay?" Leaf asked him.

Zephyr managed a shaky laugh. "Yeah. Okay."

* * *

It was easy, in a way, to spot Torkoal's house: Faded red, with a dark gray roof and brick chimney on the top. The porch seemed worn-out and dusty, the welcome mat in front of the door under a thin layer of grime and dust. There was a few patches of pale green near the house that _might_ be considered efforts of a garden, and the cobblestone pathway was dirty, weeds popping out of the gaps between the stones. There was also a garden statue shaped like a torkoal that was covered in moss, right next to a sign that said _Torkoal's Residence._

Blaze looked at the small cottage. "Well, this place is . . . pleasant."

"Quite," Leaf agreed.

"I want some TE-EA! I WANT SOME TE-EA!" Zephyr chanted, jumping onto the stone torkoal's back and pumping his hands in the air. "Te-e-e-e-eeeeeea! T-t-t-t-t-TEA!"

"You like tea?" Leaf asked, tilting her head at him.

"Not really," Zephyr said, bucking around on the stone torkoal like he was riding a horse. "But why not be upbeat about it?"

"Exactly," Blaze agreed, running the scroll through his claws nervously. Since the hotter spring was closer to the Fire-Type cottages, it had only taken a few minutes to find Torkoal's house, so he was still a little wet. Luckily, though, he had dropped the scroll onto the ground when Zephyr had pushed him in, so the fine paper had stayed dry.

"So . . . I guess we just . . . knock?" Leaf asked, looking at the dark gray door's rusty brass doorknob anxiously.

"Yep!" Zephyr said, not getting off the stone torkoal statue. He started bobbing around on his 'torkoal horse' and leaning on the statue's neck heavily.

"I don't think you should be on that thing." Blaze said. "It doesn't look sturdy enough to hold your weight when you're increasing your mass by leaning and bobbling like that."

"Relax, I'm fine!" Zephyr said, but just as he did, the statue started shuddering.

"Er . . ." Zephyr glanced down at the stone statue, which was struggling to hold Zephyr's weight. He tapped the side of it's head and leaned down to where it's ear would be. "Psssssst! Hey, statue, stop struggling!" Zephyr let his weight collapse stubbornly onto the statue's back. "C'mon, hold me up!"

In response, the stone torkoal collapsed into a pile of rubble and pieces.

Leaf hid her grin. Zephyr sat in the pile of gray stone pieces, staring down at the rubble dubiously.

"Oops . . ." Zephyr muttered, getting up quickly. "I'll just . . ." Zephyr hurried over to the front porch and rapped against the door loudly.

Almost immediately, the door swung open, and a blast of heat seemed to hit Leaf as she got closer to the door. Torkola stood, grinning widely, holding a tray full of gray lumps.

"Come in, he-heh, c'min! Cookie? I made scones fer y'all!" Torkoal held out the silver platter full of gray-tan lumps, and Leaf hesitantly accepted one.

"Go on, try it!" Torkoal urged as Leaf stepped inside. It was very hot in the cottage. Leaf looked around quickly. She guessed this was the main room-there was a blazing fire roaring against the wall, and there was a large scarlet and gold carpet on the ground. Several pillows were scattered over the floor. There were two dark wood bookshelves flanking the walls on either sides of the rug, mainly filled with books.

"Try yer cookie!" Torkoal urged again, his grin still large. Leaf put the scone (It really did look like a bleached lump of dough) in her mouth.

Almost immediately, she gagged. The cookie-thing tasted absolutely horrible. Leaf was about to spit the terrible thing out when she saw Torkoal's pleased look and started to feel guilty. Leaf grunted mentally and started chewing the lump. She shut her eyes and forced the scone down her throat.

 _DEAR ARCEUS._ Leaf shuddered, fighting the urge to cringe or scream _EEEEWWWWWWURGH!_

"Mmblemp," Leaf choked out, trying not to gag from the terrible cookie. "Um . . . it's good."

Torkoal's beam grew. "Wannanother? I made us all a _whoooooole_ batch!"

Leaf shuddered at the thought of trying to eat another cookie. "Uh, no thanks, I'm good for now."

Torkoal nodded and showed his tray to Zephyr. "Cookie?"

"YES! YES I DO!" Zephyr cried, taking an armful and shoving them all in his mouth. Leaf waited for him to spit out the scones, but instead a happy expression slid onto his face. "Oh my goth, you guyth, dese are GOOD!" The squirtle gulped his mouthful down and reached for another. "Dear Arceus, what's your recipe, bro? I must have more!"

A few minutes later, they were all sitting on the carpet. Leaf tried not to feel uncomfortable, but it was a bit too warm in here. She loved sunlight warmth, but she wasn't a fan of being so close to such a hot fire.

Blaze curled up comfortably on a pillow, his tail tucked into his chest so he wouldn't set anything on fire. He took out the scroll and started unrolling it.

Leaf glanced at some of the words. "It's written in chicken scratch."

Blaze looked amused. "No, it's an ancient language. There's an english version on the bottom."

Zephyr suddenly shoved his head between their's to see the scroll, about five of the gray-tan scones in each hand. "Hey, bro, there's no pictures in this! How will this be enjoyable."

"Seeettle down, now!" Torkoal wheezed. "I'll a get out the book!" The Fire-Type looked at the bookshelves for a moment, and then started taking out the biggest book Leaf had ever seen. It had a green-gray cover in the same gibberish words on the scroll.

"He-heh, it's a bit heeeeaaaaaaaaavy!" Torkoal panted, still pulling out the book, which was even bigger than Leaf's body. With a final tug, Torkoal manage to get the gigantic book out of the shelf . . . but the huge book fell onto his back.

"Oomph! Now now, kids, I've a got this!" Torkoal grunted from under the book. He started wriggling around, but he hardly budged. "Eemph, uh, I'll get out soon! Eeerm, uh, 'lil help, 'ere?"

After pulling Torkoal out, they all got comfortable again.

"STORY TIME!" Zephyr said, dancing around and throwing scones everywhere. "I hope it's the one about the Emolga wearing the red hoodie and then the big bad Mightyena tried to steal her food and then he dressed up like a grandma!"

"It's not that one. We aren't listening to a fairy tale." Leaf said. "This is an ancient legend. That means there are-oh no!- _no pictures!_ "

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Zephyr cried in alarm, flinging scones everywhere. The squirtle collapsed to his knees and looked up at the ceiling, clutching two cookies in his raised fists."NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Sorry about breaking that bombshell on you," Leaf said. Zephyr sat down in a mopey way next to them.

"Shall we begin?" Torkoal asked, using both forearms to heave the cover off of the book to look at the Table of Contents. "The Life Orb Legend, page 12306!" Torkoal started flipping through the huge pages for a few minutes. As he did, Blaze started unrolling the scroll. Zephyr grabbed a cookie he had thrown onto the floor and started gnawing on it.

"Here it is, Page 12306!" Torkoal took a pair of glasses from the shelf and put them on, making his eyes look a thousand times bigger.

Sitting next to Blaze and Zephyr, Leaf felt a little bit better. Sure, a maniacal outlaw was running around loose, stealing Life Orbs. At least Leaf was still with her friends. And soon she could go back to being ann explorer, once they caught Absol.

Wait . . . _Once they caught Absol?_

 _Whoa, there!_ Leaf thought, checking herself. _Absol is a highly dangerous wanted criminal. You're just a group of six-year olds!_

 _More than that!_ Leaf argued with herself. _We're Team Crystal!_

 _You can't stop Absol!_

Leaf sighed, snuggling more into her yellow pillow.

 _Maybe I can. Maybe_ we _can._

* * *

 **(A/N) So I figured it's time I make another Backstory Special, this time for Zephyr. Let me know if you'd like that.**

 **Also, if you have any ideas on a little special for me to do (Like the bad pronunciation thing) tell me in a Review or PM and I might try to make it happen.**

 **Also, we're already at Chapter TEN! Almost halfway through the book! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **That's it for this chapter, sorry about the long wait AND not having the Life Orb Legend in this chapter. Remember to Review!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	11. Chapter 11

**(A/N): Hey look! Another chapter of this! That's a surprise!**

 **So...I don't have much to say, and this is a filler chapter. I do have the legend in it, and some comedy...that's a good summary of this chapter.**

 **Sorry about not updating...again...**

 **Go read Zephyr's Backstory if you feel like crying, and if you don't feel like crying I've got this!**

 **JAEGOTHIS7: ZEPHYR: "It's not? Oh no! I'd better stop!" Cheeks puff up as he holds his breath, steadily turning redder and redder in the face until his face is purple. Falls to the ground with swirly-eyes.**

 **Oh no. He fainted.**

 **Well, you did read his backstory. I'm sorry about Tundra. I was sad too. Also I was listening to sad music while I wrote that part, so it came out more emotional than I meant it to.**

 **DRANICUS101: Yay! Actually I kind of lied, it's more like half.10 way there...23 chapters...**

 **Okay, I'm getting lazy, so I guess I'll start the chapter.**

 **UPDATE: So I had forgotten to spellcheck so I changed some stuff, man this chapter was bad, I tried to make it a little better, sorry for the inconvenience I was obviously really lazy and rushed with this one.**

* * *

When Earth was still new and young, it was chaos. There was hardly an order, no time, no space, no light or darkness, no life or death, no real emotion, just jumbles of confusion and a blur of general facts. Arceus quickly realized he'd have to find some way to control Earth, and thus the godly Pokemon created the Life Orbs to maintain balance.

There were six Life Orbs, each one holding a specific element to hold. There was the Time Orb, Space Orb, Light Orb, Dark Orb, Emotion Orb, and the Spirit Orb-

* * *

"Whoa, wait a sec!" Zephyr cried, making a time-out sign. "Emoji Orb? I have that app on my phone!"

"Zephyr, you don't have a phone!" Leaf pointed out. "Phones are some jumbled up nonsense technology squares that humans invented because they didn't want to drag their PCs wit them to the mall."

"I do too have a phone!" Zephyr said, standing up. He held out a big, thin iPhone with a glossy black case. "I bought it at the apple store!"

"What apple store?" Blaze asked in confusion.

"The one with the apples for sale, of course!" Zephyr said. "You know, that place we went yesterday!"

"That was an apple store as in the FRUIT apples!" Leaf said. "Seriously...wait, is that _an IPHONE6+?_ "

"Yeah! Do you like it?" Zephyr asked. "I got a case with a picture of me on it. It turns out the three of us are celebrities in the human world. The Pokemon stores had all these plushies of us, and these...uh...toilet seats that looked like Leaf's face..."

"WHAT?" Leaf screamed. "HUMANS ARE MESSED UP! THEY MUST PAY FOR THIS! STATIC, COME HERE!"

 **(I'm a blue electric eevee, not a human! Don't hurt me!)**

"WE KNOW YOUR REALLY A HUMAN! NOW COME HERE SO I CAN GO IN YOUR BATHROOM AND RIP OFF THE TOILET SEAT!" Leaf said, stomping to a wall and pounding at it.

"Errr . . . yungins . . . can I finish the story first?" Torkoal wheezed, giving the scarlet walls Leaf was pounding at a concerned look.

 **(Leaf, stop! Let Torkoal finish the story! Seriously!)**

"Actually . . . uh, I kinda lied about the toilet seats part. Just plushies and mugs and T-shirts and LOTS and LOTS and LOTTTSSS of fan art. So . . . er . . . I'm gonna play on my phone now . . ." Zephyr said, sweat-dropping as Leaf turned to glare at him. "Hehehehe . . . Do you want to use my phone?"

"Young kids these days! When I was young . . ." Torkoal started, but he was cut off by the three young explorers.

"No, please don't!" Zephyr wailed. "Just finish your story and don't talk about the terrible torture when you didn't have internet! I still don't know how you ever survived!

"Errr . . . alrighty, then!" Torkoal tapped the heavy book and cleared his throat.

* * *

The specific details are lost in history, but the main idea was simple. As long as each Orb stayed where it was supposed to, Earth's fabric would flow normally, and life would run smoothly. To protect the Orbs, Arceus called all the Legendary Pokemon for a meeting. They all agreed that six legendaries would each take an Orb and keep it safe, as long as maintaining their other duties.

Earth became peaceful and well, and soon other, lesser Pokemon began settling, along with humans, who came much later.

If a Life Orb was removed from it's place, that feature of Earth would go haywire, and if all the Life Orbs were removed, the Planet would go into a terrible paralysis, for Arceus made it so all of Earth's time and space and life and shade were only contained in those Orbs.

Some legends that are very old also speak of a mysterious pedestal that, if all the Life Orbs were placed inside of it, would absorb all the energy in the Life Orbs and replenish Earth's energy forever. However, all of the legends state that nobody knows where the pedestal is, and the Life Orbs are still protected by their Legendary guardians to this day. One legend vaguely points out that if somebody used the power of the Life Orbs for themselves, especially if this were for evil motives, the results would be as terrible, if not much worse, than the effects of the Planet's Paralysis.

* * *

". . . The End!" Torkoal said, closing the book. "Bye, now!"

And with that, the elderly Pokemon pushed all three of them to the door with surprising strength.

"What? We never got our tea!" Zephyr whined. "Plus I was for some reason so interested in that story that I never got to finish my round of Emoji Orb!"

"So your saying the chapter ends already? It's been so short!" Blaze added.

Torkoal shrugged. "Ehh, it's a filler chapter. Those are never long and hardly have any plot progression.

"I am going to go up to Static right now . . ." Leaf growled. "Static, where are you?"

 **(I'm going to end the chaaaaappttttteeeeeeeerrrr! :) *Evil face*)**

"WHHHYYYY? YOUR CHAPTERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SO LONG AND INCREDIBLY HARD TO WRITE! EMOJI ORB!" Zephyr cried, saying the last sentence with a sob as her cuddled his iPhone6+ sadly. There were some _bleep bop bloops_ as Zephyr played Emoji Orb with his eyes closed.

"Give me that. What is this Emoji Orb app, anyways?' Blaze asked, taking the phone. "Wait...are those Emojis of your FACE?"

Suddenly everyone in the room cringed as a shrill whistle filled their ears. White steam billowed out of something in the kitchen area.

"Ah, Tea's ready!" Torkoal said, cheery despite the fact that the terrible high-pitched whistle was screaming at his eardrums. "Out, all of you, you're a nuisance."

Leaf, Blaze, and Zephyr blinked, surprised how direct Torkoal had been to them.

Torkoal took a step towards the tea kettle, and suddenly everything turned into slow motion. **(And so I will write with slow motion)**

Blaze sloowly faaallls because Torkoal tripped hiiiimmmm annd he drrooooppppsss the iPhone and it sloooooowwwly falls oooutt of hiss claaaawwwss.

(Zooms in on slowly falling iPhone6+) Zephyr sliiiiides ooontooo the flooooorrrr with his hhaaands outstretched to caaatttchh the phone but he sliiiiidees to sllooooooowwwwly and the phoooonnnee crashes to the grooouund in a loud craaaash and a spark of eeeelectricity as the phone explodes.

(Normal speed) Zephyr fell to his knees and scooped up tiny sparking pieces of his phone. "NOOOOOOO-ouch-OOOOOOOOO-ooh-OOOOOOOOO-oh Arceus why am I holding electrocuted metal with my bare hands-OOOOOOOOOOO-I should really let go-OOOOOOOOO!" Then he dropped the sparking pieces and started shaking his hands really fast, muttering. "Ow ow ow ow."

"So do we go home now? That kind of felt like that was a waste of time." Leaf said. Blaze and Zephyr nodded, and the three left Torkoal's cottage, along with leaving a pile of iPhone6+ parts on his welcome mat.

"Shouldn't we clean those parts up? I'll go clean them up . . .I'll catch you guys in a sec . . ." Blaze hurried back to Torkoal's cottage, looking worried as he spotted a stooping kingdra hobbling closer to his house.

"I'm sorry about your phone. It must have been expensive." Leaf said gently to Zephyr.

Zephyr cocked his head. "Phone? What phone?" Then he skipped away along the path.

Leaf blinked, then shook her head. "I think I was breathing in too much smoke or something. Bllrlrlllrlrrrghhhhllllrrr!" She said, shaking her had again. "That, or Zephyr is being . . . odder than normal right now."

* * *

 **Cameo to anyone who can correctly guess all of the** **guardians of the Life Orbs. Emotion Orb has three guardians, so if you get at least one of them right it'll count as a correct answer.**

 **(Hint: No Darkrai, he's for later. Think of species types, and you should get it)**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	12. Do you wanna build a snowman? (Filler)

**(A/N): So this isn't an official chapter, but I realized that if I put the next chapter up it would prevent reviewing until the next chapter. So I wrote a quick comedy filler.**

 **The new chapter comes out when I finish it, which should be this weekend because I'm almost done.**

 **If you don't like Frozen this should be relatable. I don't like frozen. But I just thought of Zephyr singing this while Blaze runs away and I had to so here it is.**

 **I don't own the song, as you might have guessed.**

* * *

"BLAAAAAZE!" Zephyr cried. "Blaaaaaaazzzeeee? Where aaaaarrreee yoooouuuuuu?"

Blaze looked up from his random book. "I'm five feet away from you, Zephyr, you don't have to shout."

"Blaze! It's snowing!" Zephyr cried, pointing to the window.

"Um, no, it isn't. It's the middle of summer."

A mischievous grin appeared on the squirtles face. "Blaze?"

Blaze sighed in annoyance. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Suddenly Blaze's face paled. "Arceus no." He whispered. But Zephyr wasn't done.

"COME ON LET'S GO AND PLAY!"

"No!" Blaze cried, throwing the book at Zephyr. But Zephyr just stepped closer to the terrified charmander.

"I never see you anymore (Even though we live with each other and I see you every day)," He sang, adding the last part under his breath before starting the song up again. "Come out and break the door, It's like you sleep on haaaaaaaaay! (Which we do)!"

Blaze, scared out of his mind, made a run for it, but Zephyr had locked the doors. "NOOOOOO!" Blaze cried. "LET ME OUT! NOOOOO! I NEVER DID ANYTHING! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?" He banged on the door. Zephyr approached, a grin plastered on his face.

"We used to be so different! And still we are! I wish I could sing beee-teer!" Zephyr sang, incredible off-key on the last line.

Blaze cowered against the door as Zephyr came very close.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" The words were a ridiculously happy yet creepy whisper, and Blaze raked his claws against the door.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRCEEEEUUUUSS NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Blaze wailed. "MAKE IT STOP! NOOOOOOO!" He broke through the wooden door and ran away.

Zephyr watched him go sadly, the grin turning into a depressed frown. He hung his head, looking heartbroken, and sang sadly, "Oookay, Byeeeee..." Then he brightened. "There's still two minutes of agony left! Wait for me!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Blaze was running for his life. He hated that song with so much burning anger it was terrifying to hear his best friend singing it to him.

Suddenly he bumped into Leaf and stumbled.

"Whoa! Oh, hi Blaze." Leaf said. Blaze felt his eyes widen when he saw there was snow on her paws. Scary stalker music tones played when he saw that she . . . . . . _was building a snowman._

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He wailed. "I don't WANT to build a snowman!" With that he took off again, looking even more scared.

Leaf tipped her head. "Are you sure? Abomasnow is holding the annual snowman-building contest today. I think it'll be fun for us to do it!"

The Pokemon next to her, a little mareep, who was building a sheep-shaped snowman, shrugged. "I have frostbite!" He announced, holding up paws covered in ice.

"Well then go stick them in a fire!" Leaf suggested, shooing him away. Once he was gone she crushed the snowman he was making. "MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!" She cackled evilly.

* * *

Blaze reached the Main Plaza and skidded to a halt as the fountain came into view. A dead end!

"Blaze!" Blaze turned in surprise as Zephyr ran up to him. Then he realized it was a huge mistake.

"...D-d..." Zephyr held his knees, panting. When he had caught his breath he brightened. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

"No!"

"Er...other lines I just forgooooot!"

"Stop! Stop it! No!"

"We used to be so something, and something something, I wish we could drink cool-aaaaaaiiiiiid..."

Blaze ran again, not looking at which path he took. He had to get away from that song. The song...was EEEVVVIIIL! **(When Blaze thinks the song is evil, imagine him thinking evil like how Mermaid Man says it in Spongebob)**

"DO YOU WANNA KILL YOURSELF?" Suddenly Blaze stopped. Zephyr was still following the melody, but his voice sounded different . . . more panicked. Why was that/ He looked and saw worry and fear on his face.

"THAT'S DEATH CANYON YOU'RE ABOUT TO FALL IN!" Zephyr was shouting, and despite the tune he was singing to, he sounded like he was warning Blaze. Blaze hadn't stopped running, but now he paid attention to where he was going. A few of the signs he passed said DANGER and WRONG WAY and CERTAIN DEATH AHEAD and stuff like that.

"DEATH CANYON'S A LETHAL DUNGEON, BE CAREFUL AND PLEASE DON'T JUMP IN!" Suddenly Blaze realized that he had taken a bad route and was running into a very dangerous dungeon, or more like a canyon.

"BLAZE DON'T DIE! THEN WE WILL CRY! WAIT WHY AM I SINGING ALONG ANYWAYS?" Now Leaf was singing and running after him. Blaze slowed down, but then he saw that he was running _downhill_ and was slipping. A dark, deep abyss was ahead,, glowing with magma.

"DO YOU WANNA SLOW DOWN ALREADY MAYBE?" Now both his friends were singing, the panic almost, but not yet, taking over the song. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO JUMP INTO DEATH CANYON!"

Blaze saw a tree branch and grabbed it. It snapped and he fell onto his stomach, sliding downwards.

"The song is over, thank goodness!" Leaf said, not singing anymore. "Blaze, what's going on? You're not blind yet! We're still in book one!"

"Yeah, bro, we haven't even learned the secret stuffs and powers and thingies!" Zephyr chimed in. "Also doesn't you stomach hurt? You've been sliding downwards on it for a few yards."

"HELP!" Blaze cried. Leaf lashed out her vines and grabbed him by the middle. With a grunt she pulled him up and dropped him on the ground. Blaze caught his breath, heart pounding. Just a minute longer and he would have fallen into the canyon!

"Yaaaay! You're not dead!" Zephyr cheered. "Do you wanna-"

Blaze cut him off by blasting fire at him. When the smoke cleared Zephyr looked burnt but he was still smiling.

"- _Not_ build a snowman?"

* * *

 **(A/N): I DO NOT WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN!**

 **If you want to review, PM me or sign out and do a guest review, or I guess you can wait till the next chapter. Of course, you don't have to review if you don't want to...**

 **But I like reviews because reviews are awesome.**

 **I can't type right now I hope you enjoyed the chapter bye!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	13. Chapter 12

**(A/N): Oh hey here we go!**

 **I like to call this chapter The Suffering of Leaf because this chapter is really terrible for her.**

 **Unfortunately, nobody won, but Jaegothis7 got the closest. And no, I'm not telling. If you participated you already know.**

 **I broke the fourth wall, finally!**

 **And I'm not counting the random chapter before this one because that was a filler. I did that because if you had already reviewed for the static Bomb announcement you couldn't have reviewed.**

 **Okay, enough talking! I think I make these chapters too long because I put too much information in them...oh well!**

* * *

Leaf squinted through the darkness. Where was Blaze? Where was Zephyr?

Something grabbed at her back leg. With a yelp she snapped at it. It was a thorny vine! Leaf spat out a mouthful of disgusting, thorny green plants. A strong tang wafted from the spot she had bitten, similar to the taste in her mouth. Leaf stuck out her tongue, trying to get the odd taste out.

 _Ugh, why did I choose this place to explore?_ Thorny Jungle had sounded like a cool place to explore, and it was supposed to be pretty difficult. But it was dark, stank of stale toxic and burnt rubber, and the ground was covered in thorns that kept stabbing Leaf's paws. Plus, a few minutes after they had entered, Leaf had found herself alone.

A rustle caught Leaf's attention as a roselia leaped from a wall of thorny lime green brambles. _Oh, great!_ Leaf thought sarcastically, crouching into battle position. _More thorns to stab me! I'm probably going to die from all this_ _poison!_ Then she growled and checked herself. _There's no use whining about it, You chose to come here anyways._

With a growl the roselia sprang at Leaf, a thorn curling out of each flower. Leaf dodged easily, but the roselia did a somersault and swerved at Leaf, doing somersaults every few steps. Leaf swiped a paw at Roselia, and one of the thorns scratched her paw.

"OW!" Leaf cried, sticking her paw into her mouth and sucking at it. It was stinging like crazy, way more than a usual scratch.

Roselia thrust herself at Leaf's shoulder, but Leaf lashed out a vine and knocked it sideways. With a squeal the thorn Pokemon was thrown to the ground. Leaf slapped the ground near it with one of her vines and he roselia ran away.

 _Alright, let's go,_ Leaf muttered mentally. She tore through the maze of spiky vines and saw something.

Another wild?

No...

Light!

Leaf ran towards the light, and sure enough, she found Blaze battling a vileploom. The vileploom sprayed disgusting-smelling orange powder everywhere as Leaf approached.

"STOP THAT!" Blaze cried, shoving himself against the vileploom. It let out a squeal and fainted.

"Blaze!" Leaf cried. Blaze turned around in surprise. He looked pale and worn-out.

"Arceus...you're poisioned, aren't you?" Leaf asked, seeing the tired expression on his face and noticing the drop of heat on his flame-tail.

Blaze nodded. "Where's Zephyr? He had the exploration bag. Wait, did we even pack pecha berries?"

Leaf nodded. "Four, I think."

"Good. We'll need those. He's probably poisoned, too. A scratch from these things can poison you." He gestured to some of the thorny root-things.

Leaf felt a pang of guilt as she realized this was basically all her fault. "Ugh, why did I have to choose this place?"

"Because you're a Poison-Type," Blaze said. "It didn't sound as dangerous to you, and also it's hard for you to get poisoned because of your typing."

"Wait, what? Am I?' Leaf held out a paw and looked at it. "Hmmm. I guess I kinda knew but never thought about it before!"

"Well now you do. Let's go, shall we?" Blaze said, nodding at a random path. "I think he's over there."

Leaf nodded and hurried after him. She felt terrible that she had poisoned him, probably both of them. _I'll pay them back. I won't choose missions for another week._ She thought grimly, nodding to herself.

"ZEPHYR!" Blaze cried suddenly. Leaf looked over to him. He was panting, even though she felt just fine. Guilt slammed into her again, but she forced it down. _No! Don't distract yourself!_ _Find Zephyr, Blaze said he was near._ She squinted, looking around, her only light the dim glow of Blaze's tail.

 _What's that?_ She twitched her ears. There was a voice ahead! Leaf took a few paces forwards. _Is that . . . yes, it is!_ It was Zephyr! She broke into a run and skidded to a halt when she heard Zephyr more clearly.

". . . .Leedle leedle leedle leedle leedle leedle lee!" Zephyr was chanting. "Leedle-eedle-leedle leedle lee-laaleeedle LLEEEEEEEEE!"

"Zephyr?" Leaf cried. He turned and grinned.

"Hi, guys! This is Leedle!" Zephyr gestured towards a random weedle that was crawling up his right arm.

"Well, get him off!" Leaf cried as Blaze caught up with them. "And get out two pecha berries!"

"Three!" Blaze said. "You might not feel it, but I know for a fact you've been scratched with a thorn!"

"Okay, make that three." Leaf said as Zephyr pulled pink berries out of the bag. "Eat one, give the others to me and Blaze."

Zephyr did as he was instructed, and soon they had all finished the berries.

"That's way better." Blaze sighed after he had finished his pecha berry. "Should we call it a day?"

Zephyr nodded. "Leedle keeps trying to kill me." As he spoke, the brown weedle crept close to the squirtle, raising the spike on his head. "DOWN, LEEDLE!" Zephyr yelled, smacking it with his hand. Leedle whimpered and backed away.

* * *

It was already dusk when they made it back to Azure Town. The town was still awake. Leaf eyed the wanted posters for Absol. There was something she couldn't shake off about the peculiar outlaw . . .

"I'm going to bed." She announced. She wasn't exactly tired, but she didn't feel like doing anything right now.

"Already? The sun's not even up yet!" Zephyr complained. "Wait for the cola pepsi to count taxes!"

Blaze stared in confusion. "Okay what?"

"Anyways," Zephyr said, completely ignoring Blaze. "Don't you want a PokePuff or something?"

"I'm not hungr-" She broke off as Zephyr shoved her into the Main Plaza fountain. Cold water slammed against her, freezing like ice, blanketing her until she swam upwards. With a gas she broke through the surface and spat out water.

Zephyr was laughing and Blaze was in shock. "Zephyr, why did you do that?" Blaze cried. "Didn't we learn about throwing out friends into water two days ago?"

Zephyr shrugged, his eyes still shining with humor. "Yeah, but this is cold water, and that was warm water. Big difference!"

"Yes, and now she'll get hypothermia!" Blaze snapped, helping Leaf out. She flopped onto the grass, shivering.

"Y-y-yeah, Im-m g-gonna g-go t-t-t-towel off-fff . . ." Leaf muttered through chattering teeth. This was karma for choosing Thorny Jungle, she knew that very well, but plunging into icy water would not be her first choice of payback.

* * *

It took a while for Leaf to finally drift into sleep. When she 'opened' her eyes, she knew at once this was a dream.

Leaf looked around, confused. _What? Where am I? Where is this place?_

She was in some kind of space that glowed with warm colors. The colors kept flashing, but she made out reds and yellows and purples and blues and greens.

 _What...What is this place? Am I dreaming?_

A dark shape was flickering a little away from her. Leaf started moving towards it. It was much farther than it looked. The dark figure had two glowing red eyes. Leaf tried to take a step closer, but she found she couldn't. Everything was flickering here. The connection wasn't very good.

"Who are you? Where is this place?" Leaf called. The figure stared.

"Interesting. You really don't know where we are?"

"What? Where!? Tell me! Who are you!" Leaf pleaded.

The figure was silent for a few moments. "You really don't know."

"Know what!?" Leaf asked. The figure hesitated again, but it was an odd, calculating hesitation.

"You don't." The mysterious visitor decided. "Do you even know what you are? Surely you know what you can do . . ."

"What!? What can I do!?" Leaf cried.

"Your dream." It murmured.

". . . My . . . dream?"

"We are inside your dream." The figure explained.

"How?" Leaf asked. "What do you mean, what I am? What is it I can do?" She hesitated. "Is . . . is it those visions I keep getting?"

The figure let out a kind of chuckle. "Hmmm. You don't know."

"I don't!" Leaf agreed. "Please tell me! What are you? Who are you? What's going on?"

""You have power . . . it's a shame, really." The figure made a sound like a sigh. Then it flickered. "You can do things. Yet your so clueless . . . I can see, you're naive, and young. But you have a good spirit . . . . . . I wish I could say the same for myself . . ."

The figure sighed again, flickered, and began to disappear.

"Wait!" Leaf cried. "Don't go!"

But the figure was gone, and the flashing colors were darkening . . . everything disappeared, including Leaf . . .

 _I'm waking up . . ."_ She realized. _But . . . who was that? And what did they mean?_

* * *

The next morning, Leaf was wondering if she'd be visited by the strange figure again.

"Hey, Leaf, what's up with you today?' Blaze asked, waving a claw in front of her face. "You've been out of it all afternoon!"

"Um . . . I guess I'm just tired, that's all." She said lamely.

"Well then, snap out of it! if we're doing battle training we have to focus!"

Leaf sighed. Usually she loved it when the went to the Dojo, but today she couldn't stop thinking about her dream.

"There it is!" Zephyr said. Leaf saw the Dojo coming up ahead. There was a bayleef on duty, standing in front of the entrance.

"Hello. Welcome to the Training Dojo. One Poke per Pokemon to enter." He said.

Zephyr dug through the bag slung across his chest and took out a paperclip, a seashell, and a muffin. "Here you go!" He said, plopping the random items in front of the bayleef.

He glared. "Dude, I'm paid fifty cents per hour for standing here all day. Can I have the Poke?"

Blaze took out some of his own Poke and handed it to the bayleef. "Put the muffin away and throw the other things in the trash." He told Zephyr.

Zephyr put the paperclip and the seashell in the trash, but he ate the muffin instead.

"Hello, hello! What's this? Three more customers?" Arcslash the excadrill ran up to them. "Ah, Team Crystal! It's been a while!"

"Are you a manatee?" Zephyr asked randomly, poking Arcslash.

Arcslash pulled away. "Oh, you brought _him_ . . . just don't break my equipment again!"

"Okay! Did you know that stars taste like chicken?"

"So," Arcslash ignored Zephyr. "What'll you be doing for today?"

"Battle training." Blaze said. "Three. So it's me, Zephyr-Leaf, are you even paying attention?"

"What?" Leaf had been staring at a corner of the Dojo absentmindedly.

"Are you paying attention?" Blaze repeated.

"Um . . . what are we doing again?" Leaf knew she was annoying Blaze, but honestly she had forgotten.

"Battle training." Blaze said, really exasperated.

"Oh. Right. Yeah. Okay. Sooooooooooooooooo now what?"

Blaze threw his claws into the air. "You've done battle training before!" He cried. "Do you wanna do it first today or would you rather have the attention span of a majikarp?"

"Alright, why are you the leader all of a sudden?"

Arcslash sighed. "There's a few other Pokemon training over there on the Red Mat. The bulbasaur can go there. You two can go to the Blue Mat." He said, trudging away. "Kids these days . . ."

"Are ballpoint pens rare?" Zephyr asked, his randomness returning.

"What?" Leaf asked. "No. I don't think so. What are you talking about again?"

"Just go!" Blaze cried.

Leaf sighed and -walked over to the Red Mat. Usually she liked the Dojo. It was absolutely enormous, with huge gray stone walls that stretched faaaaaar up until the roof seemed as tall as Arceus himself. There was a stamina course, a dungeon course, workout equipment, and four battle training mats.

The red mat was red and light gray, made of soft foam. Today there was a milotic, a spoink, and a quilava there. They eyed her as she came over.

"Hey." The quilava said in a rough voice. "Who're you?"

Leaf didn't answer. Instead she stared around. This place was so dark compared to that place she'd dreamed about!

"YO!" The quilava raised his voice and Leaf looked up at him. "I'm Flare and this is my buddy Sprink. You got a name or somethin'?"

"Wha? Oh, yeah. I'm Leaf."

"You parta the league?" Flare asked, narrowing his red eyes at her. "You don't look so tough." When Leaf didn't answer, he hissed. "What up with you? Can ya hear all right or somethin' like that?"

"Huh? Did you say something?" Leaf had been thinking of how the visitor had had red eyes. But she had a feeling this wasn't who she had met in the dream.

"I did. You in the league?" Flare was getting annoyed.

"No. I'm an explorer." Leaf said.

"Oh! That's cool!" The milotic spoke up at last. "I've always wanted to be an explorer, but I've never liked mazes and puzzles and those sorts of things. I'm Flora, by the way."

"Hi." Leaf said. She liked Flora. She seemed friendly and outgoing, unlike Flare's aggressive attitude.

"What's your team?" Flora asked eagerly. "Where are you from?"

"Well, my team is Team Crystal, and before I was an explorer I had a trainer." Leaf explained.

"A trainer?" Flare spat. "No wonder ya look like a measly lil runt!"

"I'm training for the league!" Flora said, ignoring Flare's outburst. "But after I'm done with it, do you think there are any competitive competitions for exploring? I like being in tournaments and stuff like that, and I really wanna try exploring for a change."

"Enough gossip! We here to train or not?" Flare said, interrupting Flora. "I'll take the scrawny grass type."

"Why me?" Leaf asked. Suddenly she felt like going back to find Blaze and Zephyr, but they were all the way on the other side of the Dojo, training on the Blue Mat.

"Chicken?" Flare taunted, smirking.

"No, I'm more worried I'll kick your smug little grin too hard. I don't want you bawling to your mommy." Leaf snapped. She'd had enough of Flare's act. If she was gong to battle him, it was going to be with her head held high.

Flames spurted out of Flare's back as he spat at her. "What're ya saying, ya pitiful excuse of an explorer? Dontchya know that them runty trainer 'mons are weak? I doubt yer an exception!"

"I doubt you're smart enough to beat a majikarp." Leaf said smartly, slightly enjoying this. Flare let the flames along his back and head heat up, but Leaf refused to give in. "Also, what's up with your talking? Did you ever complete kindergarten? I wouldn't be surprised, the teachers probably threw you out the first chance you got.

Flare was glaring and steaming so much Leaf could see that it was just a matter of time until he snapped. _So I'd better make this a good one._

"What's wrong?" Leaf taunted. "Are you scared?" She took a step onto the Red Mat. "Afraid a little 'runt' is going to crush you?"

"I'M NOT SCARED!" Flare roared, his red eyes smoldering. "I'M A LEAGUE COMPETITOR! YOU ARE BENEATH ME! I CONSTANTLY CHALLENGE MACHAMPS BIGGER THAN ARCEUS!"

"So is that why you're here? Are you kicked around and beaten so much that you came here to challenge some weaklings? I can see why you have a partner. Sprink probably needs to carry you off the battlefield a lot."

Sprink looked away. "I'm gonna train at the Green Mat, Flare." He muttered awkwardly, bouncing away.

"Wow." Leaf said. "You're so pathetic even your teammates are embarrassed of you. What League do you compete at, the tee-claw tournament? Honestly, I think that you-"

 _WHAM!_

It happened so fast it took a moment for everything to register. Flare had knocked her sideways and she had slammed against the ring, hitting her head hard on one of the poles. Pain rocketed through her.

There was shouting, Flare's voice sounding triumphant, but Leaf was so dizzy and disoriented she wasn't sure where he was.

And then- _BANG!_ -She was tossed away again. She felt fire and saw hot orange flames. Flare was using fire.

Laughing-it was Flare again. Leaf couldn't stand up. She couldn't think. She couldn't breath. She could only feel pain.

Another hard blow. Spots tore through Leaf's vision, making her even more confused. Where was she? What was going on? She wanted to cry out in pain, but when she opened her mouth no sound came out.

 _Focus on him._

What was that? What was that voice? Why did it sound so familiar?

 _See that blur? Focus on it. Attack it. Do not bow down._

Leaf squinted and saw a green blur coming closer. Summoning her strength, she launched a Razor Leaf attack at it.

There was a loud hiss and a roar. Another blow hit her and she let out a whimper of pain that should have been a shout. Flare was strong-why wasn't she unconscious yet?

"Flare! Stop that, that's unfair!" Who was that yelling?

"Don't...care..." Flare hissed. Leaf realized he was going to attack again. She tried to move away but he was faster. This time she felt flames as he tossed her away.

"Flare! Stop that this instant! This is not an official battle!" More voices, a lot of yelling. Leaf pricked her ears, but she didn't know what was going on. She couldn't see anymore.

"I DON'T CARE!" Heat scorched at Leaf and there was a loud roar.

 _Brace yourself. This won't end good._ The mysterious voice warned.

Leaf tried to prepare for Flare's final hit. She had taunted him too much. That hadn't been bravery. It had just been pure stupidity.

She knew it had come before she felt it. With a terrible crash Leaf hit the ground. Despite the plasticy foam it felt as hard as rock. Leaf let out a cry.

"STOP! Flare, this is inappropriate! That kind of battling isn't allowed here! This is simple training, not Life-or-Death combat! You are banned from the Dojo and most likely from this year's tournament!"

Leaf felt her vision clear a little. Flare wasn't attacking anymore. He was being held back by something. It was Arcslash and a Lucario she didn't know.

"Leaf! Leaf, are you okay?! What happened?" That was Blaze, she knew. She wanted to say she was okay. Her vision and senses were returning.

". . . kay . . ." She managed, blinking. Everything was swirling.

"You're not! Flare was beating you up like his life depended on it! I've never seen a Pokemon be so brutal!"

Leaf shook her head and grimaced, regretting that. had it really been that bad?

"I can't believe you stayed conscious! Are you okay? Did he break something?"

". . . . . I-I'm okay . . ." Leaf said. She tried to sit up. "I just-My head just hurts, thats kind of all." That was a lie, but she didn't want to worry Blaze. He would think it was all his fault. Besides, now that the battle was over, she was feeling a little better.

"You should get checked out, anyways." Leaf looked up at him and saw clearer. He really was worried. _What did Flare really do?_

"I think I'm fine." Leaf said. It was easier to talk now. "W-where's Zephyr?"

"Talking to Officer Magnezone."

"The _Police_ are here!? Arceus, was it really that bad?"

"Yeah, it was." Leaf heard him say, but she was getting up by now and trying to look around. Flare was in front of Officer Magnezone.

"I can't believe I made it out alive!" She cried. "All I did was taunt him a little because he was being mean!"

"Agression problems." A magnezone hovered up to her. "Are you-Bzzzt-alright?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine. Why is everyone fussing over me?" Leaf asked. "I'm standing up and I'm talking. I just need a Sitrus Berry or something, really!"

"How are you talking like that?" Blaze asked in wonder. "You're stronger than you look, Leaf."

 _Yes, you are._ The mystery voice was back. _Good Job._

* * *

 **(A/N): Aaaaagh I feel bad for Leaf! Bad chapter for her!**

 **LEAF: Seriously how did I even do that? That was kind of** **embarrassing. I'm fine! I just want to know about the mystery voice visitor Pokemon!  
**

 **Then you have to wait until the next chapter!**

 **Please review! How was the battle? It was kind of hard to write in that way, but it was fun at the same time.**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	14. Chapter 13

**(A/N): JUST ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL IM FREE YEEEAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!**

 **So I feel like my writing has been slipping lately, so I tried really hard on this chapter. Feedback is appreciated.**

 **Quilava's Storybook-Well, he only got banned for one year, that's it, so...ehhhhhh, but I totally understand what you mean. And thanks, I worked really hard on the battle! I love writing, tense, scary moments, cue this chapter! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN!**

 **Dranicus101-YES! That's exactly what I was going for! And YAY, Blaze survived! Nobody's dying until the third book...I think...actually I'm not sure yet...but I** **only plan on one of them to die. Leaf is fine. SHE IS SUPER SAYAIN and Absol's got her back.**

 **Jaegothis7-Leedleleedleleedlee from Spongebob. Why is Flare a coincidence?**

 **Favorite character...uh, I was actually planning that we never see him again, but because you're one of my loyal readers I can bring him back if you'd like.**

 **WHY AM I SO EXCIIITED?**

 **QOTD-Would you go on a rescue mission, an item find mission, an actual exploration in an unknown place, an outlaw mission, or raid a human PokeMart?**

 **I loved this chapter so muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the best part was the mysterious scary unknown part! And we're officially on the plot now. One chapter away from the big things...**

* * *

"Let's do this one!" Leaf offered, grabbing the request off the Exploration Bulliten Board and showing it proudly to her teammates.

Zephyr hardly glanced at it. "No."

"Wha-why not?" cried Leaf, surprised. She was holding out a rescue mission for Muddy Bogs, a wet, muddy, squishy dungeon. Zephyr usually loved muddy stuff.

"I don't want to get my feet dirty!" Zephyr complained, which was absolutely shocking.

"But you're standing in a puddle right now!" Leaf said, pointing at the muddy puddle he was playing in. "Don't you like mud?"

Zephyr splashed out of his puddle. "Puddles are swag!" He said, defending himself as he shook clumps of mud off his feet.

"Well, I hate this," Blaze said, glaring at the gloomy sky. It had started raining hard yesterday, and today it had cleared up enough for the charmander to go outside safely. "It's too wet!"

"Well, yeah, it's kind off soggy." Leaf agreed. "But rain is good! It means the land won't dry up and we won't have a drought!"

"Okay, it's good for the environment, but not for me." Blaze said. "I'll be glad when it stops raining so much."

"So I guess this mission is a no." Leaf said, tacking the request back onto the Bulliten Board and staring at the other missions. "Hey, Blaze, how do you feel about Grainy Sands?"

Blaze shrugged as Zephyr did a belly flop into the puddle. "Do whatever you like."

"What do you mean?" Leaf asked. "Don't you care about the dungeon we go in?"

Blaze shrugged again. "Nah, not really."

"Are you sick?" This was not normal behavior!

"Not at all." Blaze assured her. "I'm on guard patrol today."

"What? Today?" Leaf said, narrowing her eyes at the cloudy, dull sky. "Wouldn't you rather be exploring?"

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Blaze said bitterly. Leaf realized that he was frustrated but trying to look unbothered by it.

"I'll go on guard patrol today, if you'd like." Leaf offered.

"Really?" Blaze asked, looking excited.

Leaf shrugged and nodded. "Sure. I've never done it before, and I don't feel much like exploring right now."

"Are _you_ sick?" Zephyr asked, laughing a little. He was rolling around on the muddy ground. Pokemon passing them looked at him in horror, since the squirtle was covered head-to-toe in sticky muck and silt.

Leaf shook her head. "I don't mind the rain, but….It's just kind of dull, you know?"

"Actually I don't. YO BLAZE, LET'S GO TO GOGURTLAND!"

"But I don't want to go to Gogurtland!" Blaze complained. "It's really cold and it smells like ice cream and all the Wilds act like friendly employees! Plus it looks like an ice cream store or something. And Fro-Yo sucks!"

FRO-YO is AWESOME!" Zephyr snapped, spraying some water at the ground to get it muddier.

"You look like a Grimer. Go wash off." Blaze said.

Zephyr ran at the fountain and dived into it. When he returned he was soaking and grinning. The squirtle shook himself like a wet dog, still smiling like crazy.

"Are you sure you want to take guard?" Blaze asked. "It's really boring."

"I'll be fine!" Leaf assured him.

"Well, Okay then, but you should get going. Ursaring has a short temper."

"Ahh, that's what he's been yelling about." Leaf said, angling her ears towards the entrance. She could hear the faint rumble of Ursaring's voice. "'Kay, gotta go."

"Thanks!" Blaze called. "We'll bring you back some Poke!"

Leaf grinned to herself as she heard Zephyr grumble a complaint about the last part.

* * *

Leaf felt a droplet of water splash onto her nose. Looking up, she noticed the dampness in the air and the gray, cloudy sky.

"Is it going to rain again?" she wondered to herself, wrinkling her nose so the little beadlet rolled to the tip of her snout. She shook it off, but it was soon replaced by another drop of rain. Leaf shook her head again, but now there was more rain falling, and more, until she was shaking her head so hard she felt dizzy.

"Mommy, why is that crazy bulbasaur shaking her head like it's being attacked by a swarm of beedrils?" A little cleffa asked her mother, pointing straight at Leaf.

"Hush, honey, don't point!" The cleffable said, shoeing her daughter through the entrance. Leaf felt her face grow hot and she ducked down, grimacing.

 _It's really pouring, though._ She pointed out silently after maybe ten or fifteen minutes. Rain dripped down her sides and streamed into her eyes as she stood shivering in front of the entrance. It was hard to see five feet in front of herself from all the water.

"I hope Blaze is okay. Hopefully they decided on an indoor dungeon." she mused to herself, flicking rain off her ears and wiping water from her eyes with one of her vines. "And hopefully they'll let me leave soon! It's freezing wet!"

But after another ten minutes of raining, Ursaring didn't come to tell her her shift was over, and the rain just kept getting harder. Leaf was now sheltering under a few stray leaves, but it wasn't enough.

"Everybody just got home after this rainstorm, nobody's going outside now!" she muttered angrily, remembering all the Pokemon streaming in earlier. "Why do I have to stick around and get soaked?" Suddenly she regretted it. "Better me than Blaze!"

After what felt like days of waiting, shaking and cold and wet, Ursaring FINALLY strolled up to her, looking grumpy.

"What's up with you?" he grumbled. "You look uncomfortable."

 _You think?_ "Can I leave, please?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Eh, alright," Ursaring grunted ungraciously.

"T-tt-thanks," Leaf said, dipping her head and speeding back into the village. She hurried all the way up to their rented room, took two steps inside, and collapsed onto the ground.

"Whoa! Are you okay?" Zephyr jumped on top of her.

"Get off!" Leaf said, pushing him away. She padded wearily to her bed and flopped down, panting.

"You're wet." Blaze stated, sounding slightly amused. Leaf looked at him and saw that his snout was wrinkled as he suppressed a smile.

"It's not funny!" she snapped, rolling around in the warm hay. "It was very cold and absolutely horrible."

"I'm not saying it's funny!" Blaze said, throwing his arms in the air, but he was still half-laughing.

"Yeah, but you're thinking it." Leaf said. She purposely flicked some water at him, not enough to be dangerous, but enough for him to know she was ticked off.

"Okay, seriously, fine." Blaze said, sitting down and taking the Exploration Bag from Zephyr. "Are you okay?"

"No! She's a hamburger! Turkey dances are Patrick Star Neo-Babylonian empire squad!" Zephyr said, bouncing around.

"Why are you always so full of energy?" Leaf muttered sleepily. "It's like you're on a permanent sugar rush."

"I drink coffee for breakfast, snack, recess, lunch, brunch, nap, bath, break, early dinner, late lunch, supper, dinner, and so on!" Zephyr said.

"You're too young to drink coffee." Blaze warned.

"NO! IT MAKES ME SUPER SAIYAN!" Zephyr screamed. "Plus, it has little marshmallows in it! Look, I have some now! WHEEEEEEE!"

Leaf closed her eyes.

"That's hot chocolate." Blaze pointed out.

"Leaf, TRY SOME!" Suddenly something scalding hot washed over Leaf. She jumped up and opened her eyes.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT?" she screamed, her eyes wide. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, hot, owowowowhotwoowowOW!" Something smelled like chocolate.

"It was my coffee!" Zephyr declared, holding up a steaming mug. "Want some more?"

"NO." Leaf threw herself downwards and slammed her eyes shut with a grunt. "Hot chocolate is evil!"

As she faded into sleep, she heard Zephyr begin to cry loudly. "I-i-i-it's c-c-c-coffee!"

"It's hot chocolate." she heard Blaze snap before she was finally asleep.

* * *

Leaf woke up pretty early the next morning. She felt crusty and smelled like hot chocolate.

"Hey, it stopped raining." she noticed, seeing the bright sky out the window.

"Wha?" Blaze muttered sleepily, rolling over.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." she said.

She glanced at Zephyr's bed, but then she saw it was empty. "Huh. Wonder where he went. Ah, well...whatever."

It was nice in the Main Plaza, a but cold, but the sun felt good after her soaking yesterday. Leaf arched her back, feeling the warm golden rays being soaked up by the seed on her back.

"ZWXRETCYVUBINOMP{OIUYGTFDRTYHUJIKOKIJUHYG(TFDR^FTGYUIOIJUHYGTFTYHUJIKIJUHYGTF&*KOKIUHYGTF%^^&*(KOIBYVTF%RTU()IUTF%&^T*Y(U)IO!"

"WHA!" Leaf jumped up as Zephyr screamed in her ear. "Wha-what happened?"

"I screamed ZWXRETCYVUBINOMP{OIUYGTFDRTYHUJIKOKIJUHYG(TFDR^FTGYUIOIJUHYGTFTYHUJIKIJUHYGTF&*KOKIUHYGTF%^^&*(KOIBYVTF%RTU()IUTF%&^T*Y(U)IO! in your ear!" Zephyr said cheerfully, grinning.

"Well, don't!" Leaf snapped, her ears ringing. "Why are you up?"

"I was wondering the same thing." Zephyr said, suddenly sounding accusatory. "Isn't it a bit-er-ly?"

"ly?" Leaf asked, confused.

"EARLY! Jeez!" cried Zephyr. "Anyways, you wanna go wake up Blaze?"

"Nah, he might kill me. I'm actually kind of hungry, I didn't eat last night."

"Well, go eat your sir hieness and stuffs." Zephyr said, dropping onto all fours and humming under his breath. "Light em up, up up, light em up, up, up….light em up, up, up,…...piiiiiiiikkkkaaaa….piiiikkkaaa piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiika, piiiiikaa piiiiiiiiii! I like muffins, PIIIIIIIKA, PIIIKA PIIKA, PIIKA PIIIIIIIKA, PIIKA PI!"

"Well then." Leaf said, ducking away as Zephyr sang and bobbed his head.

* * *

"No, no, no, that's not how it works!"

"THAT'S HOW IT WORKS!"

"NO!"

"I think Undertale is awesome."

"Leaf, that's not related to the argument."

"But I want to play it, but I can't, and now I am crying a million tears."

"Leaf, are you even liste-"

"I AM I'M TIRED OF YOUR STUPID ARGUMENT SO I'M TRYING TO DROWN THE SQUABBLING OUT!"

Blaze blinked. "Uh…"

Zephyr nodded enthusiastically. "I think we should cut off the horns."

"But that's not how it _works_." Blaze explained, sounding very annoyed. Leaf rolled her eyes as the two went back to their debate. "First you stab it, then you have to do a cross-bow, and when it's dead you cut of the horns."

"What are we talking about?" Zephyr asked cheerfully, looking confused.

Blaze stopped walking and face-clawed. "You asked how to kill a Minotaur!"

"A what? I thought I asked you how to deep-fry a sausage!"

Blaze slapped his forehead and then rammed his head into a nearby tree a few times. "No. I'm done. I'm done. I can't do this anymore. Arceus no. I can't. Please no."

"Stop. We're almost back in Azure, let's just get there without talking about Minotaurs."

"Okay!" Zephyr agreed. "Hey, what's pizza made out of?"

Blaze looked up thoughtfully. "Well, the prime ingredients are-"

Zephyr cut him off. "Yeah, I don't care."

"But-" Blaze stopped himself and followed them in silence for the rest of the trip.

* * *

When they got to the Main Plaza, there was a huge crowd and several flashing lights. Leaf could hear the metallic tang of Magnezone.

"BZZT! STAY CALM! BZZT! WE ARE DOING EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO CATCH ABSOL! YOU WILL BE ALERTED ONCE WE HAVE CAUGHT HER! BZZT!"

"What's this about?" Blaze wondered aloud.

Leaf stopped. "Oh no."

The three of them ran up to the crowd to see Officer Magnezone and half a dozen Magnemites floating around. There was a huge WANTED Poster of Absol, this time looking even more scary and dangerous.

"STAY CALM, EVERYBODY! BZZT! DO NOT PANICK! WE HAVE SENT MULTIPLE SEARCH PARTIES TO FIND THE THIRD STOLEN LIFE ORB-"

Leaf was looking straight at the wanted poster.

And then. It was like a bolt of lightning. So fast, so sharp, so painful, Leaf staggered a bit, her eyes shut tight as she drew in a gasp of breath.

* * *

 _"YOU KNOW."_

 _Leaf blinked. Her head was hurting_ _terribly. "Know what?"_

 _"WHY DID I THINK I COULD TRUST YOU?"_

 _Leaf looked around, dizzy and disoriented. "What? What is this? What do you mean?"_

 _"HOW ARE YOU EVEN DOING THIS?" The loud, angry yell became a quiet, shocked voice. "I didn't know our powers could do this…You're dangerous to me…to my plan…to yourself, perhaps, but…"_

Why does that voice sound so familiar? Have I heard it somewhere…?

 _Leaf squinted through the darkness. "Is this real? What's happening? I'm confused…"_

 _"I AM TOO!" Leaf jumped back at the angry roar. "I'm not sure, I thought I knew everything, thought I had mastered it…how old are you?"_

 _"I-"_

 _"Younger than me, that's for sure…why did I ever think it was a good idea to visit you…this is causing nothing but trouble!"_

 _"I'm sorry, I'm really confused!" Leaf tried._

 _"What are you doing?" Leaf looked up at the voice's command._

 _"Uh…"_

 _"Before this."_

 _"Oh! Er…I just found out that Absol stole another Life Orb, I think-"_

 _"WHAT!?"_

 _Leaf cringed. But now something was moving. She could see the voice's owner, but it was hardly more than a shadowy figure._

 _Leaf thought her heart skipped a beat._

I THINK I RECOGNIZE THAT FIGURE…that body shape, the same shrouded, cold feel….

No…this….?

 _"You know…no…I prayed it wasn't true…." The figure was pacing angrily, hardly more than a dark purple_ _silhouette. "YOU! I can't-I never thought…what are the odds…?"_

 _"What are you talking about?" Leaf begged._

 _"HOW ARE YOU SO POWERFUL?" The figure boomed._

 _"I-I'm not! I'm weak! You can't use me for anythi-"_

 _"My vision was right! I can't see you…can you see me?" Leaf was about to answer, but the figure went on. "This is bad….I know you'll try to find me…it's been in your head ever since you've learned about me…you've unlocked not only touch, but seeing….maybe even thought….?"_

 _Leaf was panting in fear._

 _"Soon. I know that. But when. You know I just stole the third…"_

WHAT? What does it mean, all of this? Unless…...

…No! That can't be true! Anything but that!

 _"You're going to try to look for me…..DON'T! It's for all of our good! I know they think I'm bad, I expected that, but you can't stop this!" The figure seemed to be pleading. "Darkrai is after me…if he knows about you, he'll kill you before I can blink! Urrgghhh…"_

 _"Please, what's going on?" Leaf cried. "You seemed scared when I mentioned what I was doing…." Leaf broke off and glared at the shadow miserably. The she let herself finish._

 _"….are you somehow connected to the Life Orbs? Or….."_

 _"…..Absol…..?…"_

 _Another bolt of flashing lightning, and Leaf let out a cry as the white overlapped the darkness that had been blinding her._

 _She squinted._

 _Her heart momentarily stopped._ NO!

 _For the tiniest bit of a fraction of a second..._

 _…she saw the figure…._

 _Dark indigo blue..._

 _Fur gleaming white, shining like silver…_

 _Eyes_ of _silver…._

 _as they slowly turned blood-red..._

 _and as she felt everything slip away….._

 _she fully saw who the visitor of her dreams was…._

* * *

And as the terrible truth crashed down on her, she opened her eyes to see the floor of the Main Plaza.

"Leaf? What's up?" Blaze asked, sounding worried. "You just started gasping for a second."

Leaf didn't answer. _No, no, nothing is alright, no….what does this mean….what…?_

"Hey?" Zephyr was waving a hand in front of her face. "Wake up!" he said, despite the fact she was very much awake.

Leaf closed her eyes and was reminded of the darkness. She opened them quickly.

The first thing they caught was the WANTED poster for Absol.

Leaf stared at the terrible picture, the picture that was causing terror, the picture that was about to destroy the world, and the picture of the visitor of her dreams.

* * *

 **(A/N): Anyone got any idea what's going on yet? Probably not.**

 **That was so fun and awesome. Now...hmm...oh yeah, I've got to finish the next chapter of PSMD...if I ever get to it...**

 **If nobody noticed, I love ellipses. They complete my keyboard. I** **could not write without ellipses. (...)**

 **AOTD-Probably go to an unknown dungeon, but other than that I would definitely raid a PokeMart.**

 **REVIEW! PLEASE!**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	15. Chapters 14 and 15

**(A/N): So let me explain this:**

 **Ever since I did the Blaze Snowman filler, my chapters have been out of order. Since these chapters are so short, I decided to combine them. After this chapters will be normal.**

 **ALSO I LIED _THIS_ IS THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK! I miscounted.**

 **I dunno what to say right now! YAAAAAYYYY!**

 **Absol is awesome I just want to introduce her...more...**

 **Plots!**

 **Author's notes are boring! YA!**

 **QOTD-What was the first thing you did at 2016?**

* * *

 **OKAY I JUST WANT TO SAY WE HAVE REACHED OVER 1,00 VIEWS! THIS STORY MEANS A LOT TO ME AND I'M SO HAPPY PEOPLE ENJOY READING IT.**

 **THANK YOU EVERYBODY.**

 **IT HAS BEEN AN HONOR.**

* * *

Leaf yawned loudly. She knew somebody was saying something but she was too tired to focus.

The voice stopped talking, and then, "Uh, Leaf?"

"Yeah?" she asked sleepily. "What is it?"

"Zephyr just asked you if you'd rather go on the left or right path." Leaf realized it was Blaze, and he sounded annoyed with her.

"Oh….Left, I guess." she muttered, blinking. "Uh…where are we? The supermarket?"

"What-NO! We're in a dungeon!"

"Wait what?" Leaf rubbed her eyes. They were indeed in a dungeon. She could see stony walls that had dark green moss growing on them. "Huh. How'd we get here again?"

Blaze waved a talon in front of her face. "The last time you were out of it you got severely beaten up by a quilava, so I suggest you pay attention." he advised.

"Yeah, let's go to Disneyland!" Zephyr suggested cheerfully, putting on a Mickey Mouse ears headband.

"No. This is Blackthorn Caves, not Disneyland." Blaze said.

"It's my life dream to touch Mickey's left ear..." Zephyr muttered, folding the plastic headband up like origami. He ended up with a detailed crane. Zephyr tossed it away.

"I thought your life dream was to marry a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken."

"That too."

"What's Blackthorn Cave?" Leaf asked.

"The dungeon we're in." Blaze said. "You chose it."

"I did?" Leaf shook her head. "I don't remember."

Zephyr started drawing on a banana with a sharpie.

"DIS IS SIR BANANA-CREAM PIE!" Zephyr announced, holding up a banana with a poorly drawn face doodled on it. "DO YOU GUYS LIKE HIM?"

Yeah, he's great." Blaze said, obviously not paying attention to what he was saying. Zephyr looked satisfied. "Leaf, you were out of it yesterday, too. Is something wrong?"

"Uh…I'm not sleeping well." She said, which was absolutely true. She just didn't tell them that she was trying her best _not_ to sleep.

"Well, let's try to get through the dungeon and then you can go home and sleep." Blaze said. He might have said more, but Zephyr broke off into incredibly off-key caroling.

"If anyone is wondering who broke the expensive vase on display at the Kecleon Shop, it was Sir Banana-Cream Pie, and it was absolutely positively definitely totally 100% NOT Me!" Zephyr crossed his fingers the whole time, and Blaze looked at him.

"You broke the vase?"

"No." He was still crossing his fingers.

"You're getting a time-out at home."

Zephyr started screaming at the top of his lungs and pounding his chest like a gorilla. Once the tantrum was over, he trudged behind them, sobbing quietly.

"Only Sir Banana-Cream Pie understands me!" he sobbed, hugging the banana. "I LOVE YOU SIR BANANA-CREAM PIE! WE WILL NEVER BE APART!" Then Zephyr sniffed his banana. "I'm suddenly hungry." Zephyr swallowed the banana whole, peels-and-all, in a single gulp. The he looked around wildly. "WHERE'D MAH BESTIE GO?"

At one point, Leaf tripped on a stone jutting out of the ground. "Ow."

"Be careful." Blaze warned. "There's a reason this dungeon is called Blackthorn Caves! There are these hug black thorns that are very poisonous and can knock even a Poision-Type out!"

"Well, it's a good thing I'm a Poision-Type." Leaf said, not comprehending what Blaze meant. She got up and started following him again.

After a few more minutes, she tripped on something cold and sharp. "Ow!" Leaf hissed. "Okay, that hurt. I think I tripped on a sword."

"Nah, you tripped on a big, huge, pointy black thorn!" Zephyr said.

"What?" Blaze turned around. "You stepped on a thorn!"

"Hooray?" Leaf asked. She tried to get up but stumbled. "Wow, everything is spinning more than usual." She tried to lean on a wall but instead the wall felt sharp and prickly as the points dug into her side.

Blaze made a sound and Zephyr laughed a little.

"I just leaned on a wall of black thorns, didn't I?" She asked weakly.

"Yup." Blaze said wearily.

"Great." Leaf's knees buckled as everything started to go black. "On the bright side…..I can…sleep now?….Huh."

Zephyr started laughing hysterically. That was the last thing she heard before she blanked out.

* * *

Leaf woke up feeling weird. She shook her head. It was as if she was laying on a treadmill littered with dirt and leaves…oh. Blaze and Zephyr were dragging her across the forest, through the route to Azure Town.

"Hey!" she said, hooking her claws into the ground. "I'm awake now, so stop dragging me like a sack of potatoes!"

Zephyr immedietly dropped her and looked around wildly. "Potatoes? Where? Was that the-(gasp)-POTATO GHOST!?" Zephyr put his hands together and kneeled. "Why have you summoned us, O great Potato Ghost? Do you want ketchup?"

"Cut that out." Blaze said. "Leaf woke up."

Zephyr growled. "YOU HAVE INSULTED THE POTATO GHOST! I MUST REVERSE YOUR FOUL EGGPLANTS BEFORE THE POTATO GHOST EATS YOUR CLOTHES!"

"But Zephyr, we don't wear clothes-"

"SILENCE!" Zephyr started screaming hysterically, waving around his arms as he ran down the path.

"FOR THE MASTER OF FRENCH FRIIIIEEEEEEEESSSSSS!" he screeched, his voice dying away. Leaf guessed he was long gone, running around screaming about potatoes.

"Hey, if you're up, I'm not dragging you anymore, so come on." Blaze didn't sound spiteful, just pointed. Leaf struggled to her paws and stretched.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Blaze asked after a while.

"Um, it's none of your business." Leaf muttered quickly.

"It kind of is." Again, he didn't sound mean, he was just making a point. "First of all, you live with us, so yeah. Second of all, you're our teammate!"

Suddenly Blaze got quiet, which Leaf appreciated. Maybe getting knocked out was a good thing, because now she wasn't as scared to close her eyes.

"Do you miss having a trainer?" Blaze asked quietly.

 _Whoa! Didn't expect that one coming!_ Leaf was shocked. "What in the world makes you say that?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I just-"

"I would rather be killed off by Absol than go back to being a trained Pokemon!" she snapped. "You didn't have to randomly accuse me like that! It's been three months! Don't you think I would have backed out when I had the chance?" Leaf knew she was being kind of harsh, but she couldn't believe Blaze could ever think that.

"I-I know…" Blaze sounded embarrassed with himself. "Sorry, it's just that I-forget it, okay?"

"Okay." Leaf said grudgingly. She couldn't stay mad at the charmander, anyways, but she was still pretty upset he could consider something like that.

Blaze looked relieved, but Leaf could tell he still felt uncomfortable. Lucky for him, they heard loud screaming a few seconds later from some time ahead, one of them unmistakably Zephyr's voice.

"DON'T EAT THAT FRENCH FRY! THE POTATO GHOST WILL KILL YOUR SOUL AND FEED IT TO THE MONKEYS WHO EAT TOE-MAH-TOES AND POE-TAH-TOES!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK!"

"I'M SAVING YOU!"

"WHA-GIVE ME BACK MY FRENCH FRIES!"

"NO! THEY MUST BE SACRIFICED TO THE POTATO GHOST!"

"Um-do you want to…?"

"Yeah." Blaze ran off at the sound of Zephyr screaming in pain and electricity being discharged. Leaf could faintly hear him shouting, "Whoa, um, Ma'am, there's, er, no need to try to kill him, so, er, do you mind putting down the tazer-er, and the pepper spray, if you don't-er, no, please don't spray it in his eyes-"

Zephyr started howling in the distance, and Blaze was saying, "Ma'am, I sincerely ask you to please calm down and-no, I-I'm not doing anything-OWWWWWW!"

 _Should I go help them?_ Leaf wondered. _Nah, they probably get sprayed with pepper spray all the time...okay, maybe I_ should _go check on them..._

* * *

Leaf was curled up in her bed. Usually, the soft, special hay was warm and soft, like fabric, but today it felt scratchy and prickly.

Everything was so confusing right now. She didn't like thinking, because then her thoughts would get all jumbled up, making her even more confused. But she was thinking, anyways, because at night there's not much to do besides thinking while you wait to fall asleep.

 _I'm still kind of nervous about that..._ Leaf admitted to herself. Ever since she had learned Absol had access to her mind, she'd gotten all nervous about falling asleep. Yes, she was aware it was an incredibly stupid phobia, but she couldn't help it. What if Absol tried to kill her in her sleep?

 _Stop being an idiot. A Pokemon can't kill you in your sleep!_ Leaf sighed, turning over in her bed. _Can they? Or am I just being overdramatic?_

Leaf scraped at the hay. It was still early summer, but soon it would be getting colder, and they'd need more covering than straw. Would they use blankets?

 _That would be nice...a change from this scratchy stuff would definitely help!_ Leaf had never really thought about the hay.

Why was she even thinking about it now?

Because Blaze's words kept coming back to her. 'Do you miss having a trainer?' She had instantly said no, but what was the real answer? Was she still facing the fact that she was Wild now?

"I'm _not_ a Wild, though," she whispered quietly. "I'm not a scavenge. I'm just..."

...I _don't belong to anyone..._

Leaf shook her head. "That's not _bad!_ " she muttered softly, arguing with herself. "Look at Blaze and Zephyr-They've been coping longer than me and they're fine!"

Leaf paused, glancing at the dark brown shell on one of the beds. "Well, mostly fine..." She closed her eyes and tried to get comfortable again. "I don't even know what anything means anymore, but I don't think I should be afraid of my shadow...er, whatever I mean by that. I'm gonna try and get some sleep..."

Time went by, and she didn't keep track of it. Eventually, or perhaps, immediately, she felt herself sinking into the darkness of the REM.

For a second she felt relieved, but then she saw where she was, and her blood almost turned to ice.

She was in a space of flashing colors.

 _No..._

There was someone else here, but instead of just seeing a faint outline, Leaf saw the full thing.

It was Absol.

* * *

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 **(A/N): DUNDUNDUUUUUUN! A CLIFFHANGER!**

 **Or not, because the next chapter is below!**

 **I felt like I should remind everyone Leaf did have a trainer before being an explorer.**

 **READ ONNNNN!**

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

* * *

 _Leaf felt her eyes widen._ OHMYARCREUSNOABSOLSHERERIGHTNOWOHNONONONONOIWASRIGHTNUNUNUNUNNARCEUSSAVEMEOOOOHHHMYGOSHHNOOOOOOOOOOO!

 _Absol stared at her for a long time. Then-"ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"_

 _Leaf winced. Absol started muttering to herself, and Leaf guessed she wasn't saying anything pleasant._

 _"I JUST-HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" she yelled. "I SWEAR TO ARCEUS I DID NOT THINK YOU WERE THIS STRONG!"_

 _Leaf was hardly breathing. Absol was obviously angry, but she also seemed-_ confused?

 _"Why are you standing there?" Absol snapped. She was around three yards away, but Leaf could still see the fury in her gleaming silver eyes._

 _Wait._

Silver?

 _Leaf knew for a fact that Absol had red eyes. They were red on every wanted poster she'd see, and all the victims/witnesses had_ _claimed they were red._

So why are they silver?

 _Suddenly Leaf remembered something. Pikachu-the vision, the other visions, her eyes turning silver..._

 _"Is this a vision?" Leaf asked, her voice kind of squeaky with fear._

 _"What?"_

 _"I-Is," Leaf cleared her throat. "Is this a vision?"_

 _Absol stared at her. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HECK THIS IS!"_

 _Leaf shrunk away._

 _"I don't know what to say about this anymore..." Absol muttered. "Look, I don't know what your deal is. But I'm kind of busy saving the universe and stuff."_

 _"B-b-b-but you're destroying E-earth!" Leaf stammered._

 _"Well, no, not if you think about it." Absol said. "I just have to collect all of them before Darkrai gets to the pedestal...and I have to make it in time...and if I don't, well, sure, Earth is paralyzed, but-Why am I telling you all this?"_

 _Leaf stopped quivering. Absol sounded more confused than crazy._

 _"Okay, anyways-" Absol turned on Leaf again. "I have some questions for you."_

 _Leaf backed up._

 _"Are you going to answer them?"_

 _Leaf was still._

 _"ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER THEM?"_

 _Leaf nodded quickly._

 _"Okay." Absol stared at her. "First of all, can you see me?"_

 _Leaf didn't say anything. Absol stared at her._

 _"Okay, you're more pathetic than I thought. I know you have a tongue, unless you lost it in the last five minutes. I want you to answer me truthfully, alright?"_

 _Leaf nodded. "O-okay."_

 _"Good. Can you see me?"_

 _"Y-yes."_

 _"Clearly?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Are you sure?"_

 _"Um...I'm not sure?"_

 _Absol sighed. "Do you think I'm going to kill you?"_

 _Leaf nodded. "Absolutely."_

 _"Well, don't, because I'm not. You have passed the first question. Question two-What color are my eyes?"_

 _"S-silver...right now..." Leaf swallowed. "But usually they're red."_

 _"Huh. Nice. You're not completely useless after all!" Absol sounded impressed, even though it was a simple answer and easy question._ Am I missing something here? Absol's kind of...strange.

 _"Next Question!" Absol decided. "WHERE ARE WE?"_

 _"I don't know." Leaf answered._

 _"Are you sure?"_

 _"Y-yes?"_

 _"Really?"_

 _"I think so."_

 _"I think you're pathetic again."_

 _"Good to know." Leaf shut her mouth in surprise._

 _"Well, you've got_ some _spine, which is good. Next, what was the last thing you were doing?"  
_

 _Leaf thought about this for a minute. "I was...I was thinking. About stuff."_

 _"About what stuff?" Absol asked._

 _"About you-"_

 _"I'm flattered." Absol didn't sound flattered or particularly happy or surprised. "Go on."_

 _"And how Blaze_ _asked if I wanted my trainer back-"_

 _"Who's Blaze?" Absol asked. "Wait, I don't care. You had a trainer?"_

 _"Yes. And then I started arguing with myself, and then I did others things I can't remember, and now I am here." Leaf finished up by looking at Absol._

 _"What's your name?"  
_

 _"L-Leaf."_

 _"Luleaf, or just Leaf?" Absol narrowed her eyes, making Leaf uncomfortable._

 _"Just Leaf."_

 _"Justleaf is a weird name."_

 _"My name is Leaf." Leaf said. Absol's anger faded the slightest bit._ Is she joking?

 _"Okay, I'm guessing you know who I am-you know_ where _I am?"_

 _"No." Leaf suddenly realized that if Absol told her, she could notify the Police, and Absol would be caught!_

 _"Well I'm not telling you, because unlike other outlaws, I have something called a brain. Back to you, have you ever had a reclamation of the past, present, or future?"_

 _"I have no idea what that means."_

 _"Fair enough, I'm not telling you what it means. What do you do for a living?"_

 _"I'm an explorer."_

 _"My theory is confirmed!" Absol cried. "Yaaaaay...I hate you again!"_

 _"Your opinion on me changes a lot." Leaf commented._

 _"What's your opinion on_ me?" _Absol asked. "Be honest, I won't kill you, because I don't think I can during whatever this is."_

 _"Mainly terror, and also confusion, and other feelings I don't have a name for." Leaf replied honestly. "Oh, and I think you are very sarcastic."_

 _"Thank you very much. Do I rage to much?"_

 _"Not as much today, but a lot last time."_

 _"I would use you like this more if this wasn't serious." Absol said. She went back to questioning, but Leaf started dodging some questions like, 'where do you live,' and, 'how did you get there,' because she realized Absol couldn't do anything to her._

 _Finally, she said, "This is the last one, and I want you to be one hundred and five percent honest this time, okay?"_

 _Leaf nodded._

 _"Do you want to find me?"_

 _Leaf stared at her._

 _"Look inside yourself. Do you want to find me?"_

 _Leaf blinked. "Yes." she said, surprising herself. She hadn't realized that she wanted to until now, but once she realized it, it felt so obvious._

 _"Are you going to help me?"_

 _"NO!"_

 _"Then don't find me if you want to live." Absol wasn't joking. "I'm hardly managing on my own, and I'm guessing you're not as fast as me."_

 _Leaf was confused. "I-I-what?"_

 _"Nevermind. Thanks for the chat." Absol said, nodding. "Now get out."_

 _Leaf was quiet. "I don't know how. I think I have to wake up."_

 _"Should I scare you awake?"_

 _"That'd be nice, thanks, but I think my terror has reached my limit tonight."_

 _Absol laughed a little, which was shocking. "Pffft, there's no such thing."_

 _"Okay...?"_

 _"One more thing." Absol stared straight at her. "I want you to know that I'm only seeing you as a blurry figure, so I don't know your species. I expected your name to be the same as your species, but it's not, so when you come for me, I'll be surprised. I'm hoping you'll be something strong, but I don't think so, because you're two heads shorter than me and sound very young. But hey, maybe you'll evolve or something, I dunno. Also, if you do come, I'll try my best to protect you. You don't know what's going on, and I actually don't want you dead. You're not a threat yet. I'm not going to kill an innocent just 'cause I feel like it. I feel wrong to hate you, because I like you. If you're an explorer, than you must have some experience, but not enough. Just-just letting you know. I won't let you die, not if I can help it. Okay?"_

 _Leaf didn't know what to say. Her mind was whirling._

 _"Oh, and, try to stop visiting me if you can. As you can tell, I'm doing something extremely important, and I need to concentrate. 'Kay, gonna scare you now, so don't be prepared."_

 _Leaf waited in silence for maybe three to five minutes. After what felt like forever, she said, "I thought you were gonna scare m-"_

 _Absol lunged at her, claws outstretched and teeth bared, and Leaf screeched, waking up at once._

* * *

Leaf jumped up and crashed into a wall. "Ow."

"You okay?" Blaze asked, looking at her. He tilted his head. "Uh..."

"What is it?" Leaf asked. Had Absol clawed her before she'd woken up?

"Nothing, I just thought for a second I saw your eyes-no, they're normal now. Forget it." Blaze stood up. "You good?"

"I think so." Leaf admitted. "Where's Zephyr?"

"I dunno."

"Makes sense."

"We will never figure out where he is."

"I'm in the volcano!" Zephyr called from the bathroom. Leaf twitched an ear and heard the sound of running water.

"I think that's the shower." she said.

"Why's it so hot?"

Blaze sighed. "The Potato Lord summons you."

"SANTAAAAAAAAAA!" Zephyr screamed, running inside. He was steaming from the hot water, and dripping wet.

"You left the shower on." Leaf commented.

"THE POTATO LORD SUMMONED ME!" Zephyr objected.

"Turn it off."

"I'll go turn it off."

Blaze looked at her. "You're in a better mood today."

"Um-I had a dream, and I figured something out." Leaf half-lied quickly.

 _I did figure something out, but I don't think you'll like it._

 _I don't care what you say, Absol, but I'm coming for you._

 _Even if you don't keep your promise._

 _And I'm_ _definitely not helping you._

* * *

 **(A/N): Absol!**

 **Yay!**

 **More confusion!**

 **Why am I talking like this!?**

 **THE POTATO GHOSTLY LORD!**

 **AOTD-Blew a noisemaker in everybody's ears, even if they were asleep.**

 **Okay I've gotta go try to defeat Entei. (I've been fighting him for two weeks)**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	16. Chapter 16

**(A/N): WHOA WHAT? 4 MONTHS!? WHAT IS THIS CRAZY PROCRASTINATION IVE REACHED? BAD STATIc BAD.**

 **I'm really sorry. I've been having so much writer's block with this, and I feel like my writing skills are starting to slip.**

 **I seem to start every chapter with a piece of dialogue in a random exploration, and I have a feeling that's not good.**

 **Welp, I have fun writing Absol and the next chapter is gonna be short. This chapter is also really short. I just want to get the big hunk of bad story moving.**

 **Jaegothis, that death was the original plan. But I'm planning 2 more books so I'd rather keep it…interesting…(If this somehow gets to the point people want a sequel though, that might take a year…)**

 **I hint at the next book a lot in my more random stories, I wonder if anyone has picked up my hint on Blaze…**

 **Oh well. Here you go.**

* * *

Leaf looked up "Ooooh, that tree is _big!_ "

"And we have to climb it?" Blaze cried, squinting up. "Why? That thing is _massive!_ We'll never be able to climb up there!"

They were in a deep part of the forest, in front of a humongous tree. The wood was a steady brown, with hard bark and long, knobby roots jutting out of the earth. The base of the tree was straight and pretty much bare, but there were more and more branches as the tree got higher and higher. There were bright green leaves, rustling a little in the wind, turning the light green as warm sunlight filtered through them.

Leaf ran up to the big tree and rubbed a paw against the bark, satisfied with the way it felt hard and scratchy against her skin. "This is a nice tree," she commented, nodding. "Yep, this'll be good!"

With that, she jumped as high as she could and gripped the bark hard, digging her tiny claws into the wood.

"Me too!" Zephyr called, hugging the tree and inching up a few centimeters. "I'm a natural!" he declared proudly, his tail still brushing the ground.

Leaf stretched her front paws, reaching as high as she could, and crawled up some more. She turned back to Zephyr, ho was making basically no progress. "You're doing it wrong." she commented, sending out a vine and putting it about and arm-length above the squirtle. "Here, try to reach up to the vine."

Zephyr stretched his arm and fell. "Ow. Did I do it?"

"Yeah, you did great." Leaf said sarcastically. "Be our master, lord Zephyr, and teach us how to fall on our tails like that!"

"You don't have a tail." Blaze said.

"Because I don't plan on falling."

"No. Like. You just don't."

"Oh . . . that's why I'm the best climber!"

"I don't think that's how it works . . ."

"I'm the best climber!" Zephyr argued. He was jumping up and down, attempting to get a good grip, but he kept falling or missing. Leaf looked down at him, smiling a little.

"Need help?"

"Nup!"

"Okay then . . ." Leaf raised her vines, because her front paws were getting tired, and raised herself even higher. "Blaze, are you coming?" She called.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to set the tree on fire." He said, pointing at his tail.

"Okay. What fruit am I looking for?"

"Mako Berries."

"Mako Berries." she repeated, nodding. "You know what? I'll just grab 'em fast."

"I'M SO HIIIIIIIIGH!" Zephyr screamed, looking down. He was high enough that he wasn't touching the ground, maybe a few inches at most. "I AM DA . . .TREE MASTER! YEAH!"

However, his yelling made the leaves on the tree shiver, and a single leaf floated onto his head, making him fall.

"Oh." Zephyr said sadly. "I'm not the tree master. WAIT. I'M THE GROUND MASTER!"

"You're a Water-Type." Blaze reminded him.

"GROUND MASTERRRR!" Zephyr insisted, throwing a handful of dirt at Blaze.

"Ack. No." He said, brushing the dirt off his arms. "Just...Water Master, if you want."

"QUESADILLA MASTER" the squirtle screamed, jumping up. "CHEESE AND TORTILLAS ARE MY STRENGTH!"

"Okay, okay!" Blaze said, backing away. "Um...Quesadilla Master."

"ALL HAIL THE QUESADILLA MASTER!" Leaf called from above them.

* * *

"That went well!" Leaf tried optimistically as they walked back to Azure Town. Well, more like they were walking and she was half-walking, half-limping.

"Yes." Blaze agreed sarcastically. "I'm sure falling off of a fifteen-foot tree felt extremely pleasant, huh?"

"Sounds fun!" Zephyr said cheerfully.

"Nope." Leaf replied. "Hurt like falling off a cliff, except a thinner, wooden cliff with a leafy top."

Zephyr thought. "So . . . like drinking apple juice?"

"Nah." She shrugged. "Anyways, so what if I fell and kind of maybe got unconscious and bruised and . . . yeah . . . I mean it wasn't that bad, but yeah, I see it now. Anyways, it was nice having a different mission for once."

"It'd be much _nicer_ if it was something that made sense." Blaze said. " _Please fetch me some delicious Mako Berries! They grow on big trees! I love Mako Berries!_ They could've just gone to the shop and bought some! I can't believe that was the best mission of the day!"

"I know." Leaf sighed. "There hasn't been a new dungeon discovery in a while."

"Why don't we just jump on a Lapras and, you know, take off?" Zephyr asked. "Let's go to that Obsidian place Blaze told us about once! With the chicken!"

"What?" Blaze sounded confused.

"Cuckoo, was it?"

"Colonel? Oh, yeah. Obsidian Village." Blaze nods, remembering. "Um, I don't think we should go. I like Azure, honestly."

"AGREED!" Leaf shouted, louder than she meant to.

They'd made it to Azure by now, and Leaf was surprised how early it was. She was used to missions taking up most of the day, not just over an hour.

"Can I drop them off?" Zephyr asked Blaze.

"Wha-Sure." Blaze said. Zephyr almost always carried the bag, so the squirtle ran off at once. Not really thinking about it, Leaf meandered after him, glancing around a bit. Her eyes caught on the Wanted poster for Absol, and for a second she froze at the near accurate illustration.

 _But it isn't_ completely _accurate._ Leaf reminded herself, feeling an odd bit of smudged pride at this. She went up to the Wanted poster and studied it. It was definitely close, but Leaf remembered that Absol's mane had been a bit fluffier, more stray hair falling over her face, and there had been a scar above the Dark-Type's nose as well.

It was weird recalling the strange dream she'd had, honestly. She hadn't told anyone about them because the more she considered them, the more confusing they were. Absol's behavior had been just as confusing, both times.

 _You think too much._ Leaf scolded herself.

And then there was her wanting to find Absol-this was probably the strangest thing she'd discovered.

Why, if she was obviously scared?

Why, if much stronger Pokemon had failed?

Why, if she didn't even know how to tell Blaze and Zephyr she wanted to?

WHY?

"I DON'T KNOW!" Leaf yelled loudly, realizing she'd opened her mouth until after the words had come out of it. Luckily, the Plaza was pretty empty today. Leaf sighed, slumping down. _Just figure something out. You climbed a huge tree. You can tell your teammates._

She spotted Zephyr skipping back to Blaze, singing, "NINETY FIVE SHARDS OF GLASS IN MY PILLOW, NINETY FIVE SHARDS OF GLASS! TAKE ONE OUT, ACCIDENTALLY STAB YOURSELF, THERE ARE 63 SHARDS OF GLASS IN THE TRASH AND 500 IN MY PILLOW!"

"Hey, Zephyr!" She called out. The squirtle skidded to a halt, tilting his head at her for a second, and came over curiously.

"What?"

Leaf suddenly realized asking Zephyr first wasn't the best idea. The she shook her head. _He's a great explorer,_ she hissed internally. _Don't worry about it._ Plus, it was easy to imagine Blaze's reaction to her idea. She wasn't sure how Zephyr would react.

"Okay, Zephyr." She started nervously, pawing the ground. "What would you say if I told you I wanted to find Absol?"

"I would say I would say, because that's what I just said." Zephyr summed up.

Leaf blinked. "That's not what I meant. I mean...I kinda wanna go find Absol."

"Oooooooooooooh!" Zephyr nodded, understanding flooding into his big brown eyes. "I know where she is!"

"You do?" Leaf gasped, surprised. "W-Where?"

Zephyr stepped closer to the Wanted poster and pointed at the illustration of Absol. "Here!" He explained cheerfully, looking proud of himself. "Case closed! Let's go have some PokePuffs!"

Leaf shook her head. "No, no-Zephyr, I mean for real. Go on a big exploration. The three of us. Catch Absol."

Zephyr stared at her. "That's a bad idea!" He said loudly, shrugging happily. He looked upwards, nodding a little, and then his eyes locked with Leaf's again. "But I'm in!"

"You are?" Leaf asked, surprised at his readiness to agree.

"Yeah, sure." Zephyr said. "How hard can it be? Let's go tell Blaze!"

"Zephyr I don't think you're understanding the seriousness of this situation..." Leaf called after him as he trotted away to find Blaze. "This is going to be really hard-"

Zephyr cut her off with an unexpected sigh. "Leaf, I know that." He said, making her stop. She heard the strange intelligence that hardly surfaced out of Zephyr's goofy self-one that was wise and in control of what he meant. It only showed through during serious moments. "I know this is gonna be dangerous, alright? We all know there aren't many missions. No new dungeons. We all know Earth is being paralyzed. Welp, stoping Absol, that sounds like something worthwhile! I mean, what exploration team saves the world? I say we should do it."

Leaf was quiet.

"Plus it'll tick Blaze off that you went to me first!" Zephyr laughed, his seriousness disappearing as he plunged back into his jokey world. He just ran off excitedly while Leaf called, "Wait! What do you mean?"

* * *

 **(A/N): Starting from next chapter, things get exciting. No more bad writing. Even worse writing. Because everything will be super cliche.**

 **And I still can't think up of a good name for Leaf's ability. *sigh* If you have a good idea for a name I'd love to here it.**

 **-Static Eevee 198**


	17. HiI'm stopping, please read

**Did I scare anyone? Hope not...**

 **I'd better explain.**

 **This is just me venting out some thoughts on a keyboard. It'll be messy and unorganized, but I need to say it and I don't know how else.**

I'm still going to be _on_.

I just won't be writing.

PM me, I'll answer/talk. Publish a new chapter, I'll happily read and review.

But I'm kinda...done...with Pokemon fanfics. I just don't feel as interested, and I feel like they're...cringey? I'm not sure. I'll probably leave them up, though. It was a shame, really. I had a lot planned out, and I had like 3 books planned out for OoL. But I can't continue. I feel guilty whenever I come on here.

I want to focus on my original stories that I'm working on, my art, animation, things like that.

However, I might still work on Evening of Stars. I still feel pretty happy with that, and working with it is the most fun for me. Even though it's my least popular main story...I dunno.

You guys are awesome.

Hope you understand.

Thank you for all the reviews I've received, they've made me feel encouraged to keep writing. And I am. This site has helped me hone my skills as an author, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Your constructive criticism, your love, your views, I appreciate it so, so much.

I'm not sure if this is just a bad writers block, but I've been considering this for a while...

I might upload some of my unfinished chapter drafts if anybody really wants?

I can see the confusion this is.

I need to thank Dranicus101 and Contradictory Cynicism (Man Jae, that new name. I'ma call you Jae cause I'm used to that.) Dran was my first friend, my first reviewer, my first help. And Jae...well, you're amazing sarcasm, I'll give you that. Thanks both.

This is making it sound so sappy and like I'm leaving my will and stuff...hmmm...

Welp, I'm not sure what to say. Hope you guys liked my work? It's so hard getting down what I mean...

Oh, another thanks to Quilava's Storybook! You're constructive criticism helped me so much too, and you're a great friend.

I'd like to know what story you most enjoyed on here, even though I've asked that before.

* * *

I'm going to probably be a beta, so if you'd like me to..beta-stuff one of your stories, let me know and I'd be happy to!


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